


With a Star in One Eye

by FivePips



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Muggle, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Christmas, Crushes, Fluff, Halloween, Ice Skating, M/M, Mutual Pining, NaNoWriMo, New Hampshire, New Year's Eve, POV Alternating, Past Abuse, Past Drug Addiction, Pining, Romance, Slow Burn, Thanksgiving, Winter, fall - Freeform, lots and lots of fluff though, past suicide of a partner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-17 08:16:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 62,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16512635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FivePips/pseuds/FivePips
Summary: Sirius comes into money and a property from Uncle Al. After years of living a life he hated, he decides to up and leave Singapore in a heartbeat. He finds himself in a tiny Godric’s Hollow in New Hampshire. The town is full of interesting locals, including Remus Lupin. Remus is a artisan who works with wood mostly. Remus himself had his own trouble in recent years. Remus and his friends take Sirius into their lives and show him how to live in the North and survive the seasons — and so much more.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you @starstruck4moony for driving me to do something local. I am born and raised in NH by Mass parents and live about 45-50 minutes from the city of Boston on a good traffic day (lol what’s that??). I am New England through and through. It started down the Cape but then it evovled into this. My home state is beautiful and I hate it and love it for various reasons so a lot of Remus’ feelings are my own. I’ve been talking to my students about Imaginative Fiction Narratives to my students and how we need to draw on our own experiences to write these stories, so I’m taking my own lessons to this work for Nanowrimo. How Remus and the other New Hampshirites talk are how me and my friends talk. There are numerous New Hampshire-y things. Honestly, it is so fun writing this. The place Sirius eventually wants to open is inspired by the inn where my friend just got married, in the same exact area but in a little fictional town with their own fictional touristy things. I love the place so much, and thought it was a great venue so thanks little place.
> 
> In keeping with New Hampshire, the title of this story is by no other than Robert Frost (duhhh, he’s our treasure. I teach in the town over where his house/museum. My senior year books theme was the road less traveled. I am planning on getting a tattoo of NH scenery with “Miles to Go Before I Sleep” incorporated in it somewhere. Basically this is Frost country.).This line is from his poem Canis Major because of appropriate.

It was a typical day in hell, or Black & Chu as most people called it. Most people were not Sirius Black. Sirius was the son who should have been the white sheep of this horrid family but managed to get dragged into the business because he felt obligated amongst other daft reasons. One of which, being he didn’t want Regulus to go at it alone. If it weren’t for his brother he would have left their wretched family a long time ago. Regulus was the only person that mattered to him here in Singapore.

Regulus always looked up to him. Sirius protected Regulus at home from his parents when they were little. He acted out to get the heat taken off of his little brother whenever possible. He didn’t mind a black eye or swollen lip. Then at Eton he sheltered Reg from the posh and racist morons who would taunt the smaller Black brother. Then again at Uni when Reg would be a worried mess because he realized he was gay and most likely demisexual. Finally, when he had to return to the Black family business and pretend that he was something that he was not. Sirius wished and wished that he could just get out of Singapore and show Reggie they could make it on their own. Not that Regulus would ever be able to muster the courage to do so, Sirius thought.

All Sirius wanted to do was get as far away from Singapore and/or London as possible. That probably meant going to Antartica or something, so maybe not physically but mentally or culturally. Sirius was sick of the arse kissing at random society events to people that he could barely remember their names even though he had met them a million times before. He wanted to gouge his eyes out if he had to fake laugh at someone who had a lot of money in Black & Chu so it was in his best interest to keep them happy. He sometimes wished he never had to hear his mother’s shrill voice any longer or his see father’s disapproving look.

But alas, here he was in his office listening to his father and mother natter on about how they had a lovely woman for Sirius to take to the Chung-Lai wedding next week (The wedding of the year, apparently). This was unfortunate because not only was anyone they set him up with generally terrible, but Sirius was gayer than a Cher lookalike drag queen riding a rainbow bike in a Pride parade in San Fransisco. The combination of those things just meant another relationship was doomed from the start and the rumors of his bachelor ways would again make the rounds when he dumped the girl at the drop of a hat.

“Mother, please, I’m in the middle of doing work. Can we talk about this later?”

“Don’t you want to settle down? Sirius, you are into your thirties now. You’re getting old.” She said crossing her arms. Walburga was wearing a dark green knee length skirt and a crisp white top. Her black hair was pulled back into a severe top knot. Always so polished, and never a hair out of place. If only the rest of the world could see the evil within, Sirius sighed.

“I have a lot going on. I also don’t want to settle at this very moment. I want to make a phone call to PJR to close that deal.” Sirius lied, taking a deep breath.

“Fine. Come on, Orion. Our son is apparently too busy for us.” She walked out, beckoning his father to follow after. Orion, the man of few words (unless they were belittling and assaulting ones), said nothing to Sirius as he left.

Sirius groaned, leaning back in his leather chair. He was so miserable that he wondered what it was truly like to be happy. It must have been nice, right? He couldn’t really pinpoint the last time that he felt real, unadulterated joy that didn’t come from being completely wasted from one drug or another. He hadn’t even had that for the last six years. Almost seven. What a horrible thought, Sirius surmised as his intercom came on. Not the fact that he was clean but the fact that he couldn’t remember what it was like to be happy.

“Mister Black, Andromeda Tonks is on the phone.” His secretary Pansy all but whispered into the line. Andromeda was a dirty word in Black quarters. She was Sirius’ favorite cousin but they could never mention their relationship to anyone in the family. Sirius even kept it from Regulus. Not that he told Reggie too much. The poor bloke didn’t even know that Sirius was gay. He never wanted to burden his brother with anything at all, who was always a nervous wreck.

While Andi was attending Cambridge, she met a local named Ted Tonks. Ted was black, middle class, and going to a trade school to become a mechanic. Andi told her parents about Ted but was told that if she wanted to be with him, then she wasn’t going to be in the family any longer. So, she left the family. Her horrible sister, Bellatrix, burnt her off the freaking tapestry in Sirius’ parent’s home the day of Andromeda’s wedding (that Sirius attended but no one knew, they all thought he was on business in The States).

“Okay, I’ll pick up.” Sirius wasn’t sure why Andi was calling him at work. Normally they only stuck to mobile because they worried about the family finding out. He picked up the receiver, pressed the button to answer the first line, and held the phone to his ear. “Hey, Andi. What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

“Well, yes, brilliant. About to be more brilliant for you, I think.” She said quickly. “Sirius, I finally got Uncle Al’s will.” Their Uncle Alphard was kicked out of the family for being gay. He made a ton of money in tech. Sadly, he died a month previous and Sirius couldn’t find a good way to get to the funeral. Al was the only other Black at Andi’s wedding.

“Oh, really?” Sirius frowned because he wasn’t sure what she was so excited about. It sounded a bit morbid in his opinion. He was their favorite uncle after all.

“Sirius, he left you 75% of his money and property in the States.”

Sirius’ ears started ringing, which was strange. It was as if he was about to pass out. That was a lot of money and could spell out a whole new world. “He — he did?”

“Yes, Sirius.”

For years, Sirius always said to himself and Andi and the very few blokes he got close enough to consider to be his boyfriends, that the only reason he never left his parents was Regulus. He knew deep down a lot of it had to do the fact that if he did then he would be dirt poor. All of Sirius’ money was tied to his parents. There was no way around that. But now, he was rich thanks to his uncle. “You’re joking.”

“No, Sirius, you can do what you want now.” Andi said, encouragingly. “Come to London. Right away. I want to take care of this all.”

Sirius felt a rush of anxiety. If he went to England then he would be a step closer to leaving this all behind and to doing what he wanted to do. He could go be himself somewhere away from all the bullshite.

“I— okay, I will. I’ll pack up and try to be there in the next day or two.” Sirius spoke quickly, his heart pounding against his ribcage.

“Good, I’ll see you then. Try to get Reggie to come with.”

“I doubt that I could tear him away, Andi. You know how he is.” Sirius looked at his watch. “I should go. I’m going to head home and pack. I’ll send the family an email telling them I’m done. Then I’ll get a flight to London.”

Sirius used to be impulsive when he was younger. He had a rebellious streak that ended up with burns and bruises given to him by his parents and hangover and withdrawals given to him by himself when he was a bit older. It had been a long time since he had just done something without thinking. For the first time in his life, he felt like that he was doing the right thing.

***

_I’m leaving and I won’t tell you where exactly it is that I’m going because I won’t be coming back. I’m fine, not that Mother and Father care but I know that Regulus will. I’ve been given a large sum of money by Uncle Al, so I’m finally able to live exactly how I want. Yes, the man you kicked out of the family ages ago. I stayed in touch with him and Andromeda too. They’re much better people than anyone else in this godforsaken family._

_By the way, I’M GAY, if you didn’t figure that out yet by how frequently I drop the women you set me up with. So, you can burn me off the tapestry just like Uncle Al before me. Andi too for loving someone who didn’t fit into your ideals. Not that I’m in love, but I would love to be. I’ve just been too scared to do that here. Now I’ll be able to whatever I see fit instead of conforming to something that I detested._

_Again, do not try to find me because I never want to come back here. You can tell people whatever you want about me. Tell them I’m on some binge somewhere. Tell them I’m back in rehab. Tell them I ran off to marry a duchess or something. It doesn’t matter to me._

_The only person that I’ll miss is Regulus. Take care of yourself, please. Maybe one day you’ll decide to come with me. I’ll check this email every so often if you need anything._

_Without Regard or Respect,_  
_Sirius O. Black_

***

“Holy fucking shite. I’m a billionaire and I didn’t do a thing?” Sirius sat back. They were on her sofa in the living room of her flat in London. It was cozy, and not as opulent as any other Black home he had ever been in. You could tell a family lived there. Not that Nym, Andi’s daughter, was there a lot now but it was still nice and homey.

“Seems so.” Andi laughed. “He left the business to his partner but you have all of these accounts here. And this place in New Hampshire.”

Sirius furrowed his brow in thought. He tried to think of a map of the United States but drew a blank. “That is a state, right?”

“A tiny one, not far from New York I think.” Andi shrugged as Sirius pulled out his phone to google it. “The property used to be some inn. There’s lots of land. Al wanted to fix it up and open it one day according to Mike.” Mike was Al’s husband. “Never happened.”

“Huh,” Sirius nodded, seeing that the state line of New Hampshire was not too far from the city of Boston. He almost went to Harvard but decided to stay in England for his education, much to his parents' disapproval. English schools were apparently for failures, which is ludicrous. “Where in New Hampshire? I want to Google it.”

“Godric’s Hollow.” Andi informed him.

Sirius typed it in as Andi went over all the legal shite that she was supposed to in her best barrister voice. He barely listened, he knew she wouldn’t screw him over. Sirius had more important things on his mind.

Instead, he looked at the images on his screen of Godric’s Hollow. It looked like something straight out of some book about The States written by some 1850’s author. There was a cute little main street filled with shops. The trees turned red, orange, gold in the fall. Snow beautifully filled the little village in the winter. It was surrounded by amazing mountains. On top of it all, it seemed to be a prime tourist destination. No wonder his uncle wanted to fix the inn up.

Sirius went on to search flights to New Hampshire. It appeared that there was no airport close by to Godric’s, so he would have to settle for flying into Boston then driving up the rest of the way. That drive would amount to over two hours it seemed.

“You’re looking at flights… and rental cars.” Andi said, peering at his screen. “You’re going to do this?”

“Sure. I have the passport already.” Sirius said with a shrug. His mother had had Sirius in The States so they could have citizenship in The US. He spent most of his time in the USA either in New York or LA or Hawaii. One time he went to Austin in Texas but that was far from New Hampshire. He never ventured much from big cities because that’s where the business was. Or Hawaii because it was one of his favorite vacation destinations.

“True.” Andi nodded. “It might be a nice change of pace for you. Whether you live there for good or not. Plus, it might be the last place your parents look for you.”

Sirius laughed, he was getting nervous that he would be tracked to London soon and pressured to come back to the company. He wasn’t sure what was happening back in Singapore. His brother hadn’t even contacted him. Sirius had not decided if that was a good or bad thing yet. He missed his brother but he couldn’t take the burden of being his emotional dumping ground any longer. The man needed a therapist, that was the only way he would overcome the demons he was fighting. Sirius knew that too well.

“So, you’re going to go live in the country in The States. Well, Ted, Nymphadora, and I will come to visit.” Andi shrugged. “You know it probably gets bloody cold there if it’s in the mountains.”

“I’ve survived English winters,” Sirius shrugged.

Andi made a face, “I think it might be worse, love.”

“Nothing can be as bad as living a life I can’t stand any longer.” Sirius set his phone down. “If I had to do that any longer, then I don’t know what I would have been like. I’m surprised I was n’t suicidal or homicidal. Probably thanks to my therapist. I should probably tell her what I did, huh?”

“Yeah,” Andi laughed. “Might be nice. I think she might be happy for you.”

“She did always encourage me to do things I wanted to do.”

“Well, you are now.”

Sirius nodded. He was doing something for him for once in his life. He had his whole future in his hands.


	2. Chapter 2

Sirius arrived in Godric’s Hollow less than a week after leaving Singapore. He knew he was going to have culture shock but he didn’t realize how out of place he would feel as he drove down the main street, which was filled with tourists at the time. It looked and felt like the opposite of everything he had known. It was apparently some bank holiday weekend in The States so people were traveling for the last time for the summer. The highway up from Boston was stop and go for a large part but since Sirius was flying on the adrenaline of making a big life choice, that it didn’t matter to him. He knew he was going to crash hard soon, so he hoped that he had at least a soft place to sleep that wasn't infested by one thing or another.

It was as picturesque as Sirius thought it would be even though the leaves were still all green and there was no snow to be found yet. But it was beautiful. Sirius loved the mountains and the air felt so fresh, if not a bit muggy, when he rolled down his windows once he was off the highway. There was greenery everywhere. It was a different type of greenery than he was used to in Singapore or in the English countryside. There were a lot of rocky spots as well. Sirius was never a hiker, but he thought he might look into trails. That could be a part of his new life in this new place.

Since a child, Sirius knew what his life was going to be like. It was all planned out for him. Sirius knew everyone around him and they were all interconnected in barmy ways that drove him mad most days. When there were new people in the Black’s circle they were basically vetted. He was mates with his school friends for ages and they still showed up at events. Not that they were real friends. But now Sirius was starting completely new and fresh so he got to make new friends. Friends that were not given the once over by his parents. There was not a soul in sight for miles and miles and miles that knew who he was. There were zero expectations for him here. Everything was brand new and Sirius could begin doing as he pleased. Even if he wasn’t entirely positive what that was but he knew he'd work it out eventually.

At least for now, he had the property to care about. Not too far outside of the main street, called Main Street because of course, the property left to him was waiting. It was a sprawling one that included a main house and a larger house that used to be an inn. Both were white houses with black shutters, and very typical for the area. There was also a garden, which Sirius assumed was overgrown, a little pond, and a gazebo on the property. Sirius had images in his head of hosting weddings later, once everything was settled. That could be what he did with his life. He always loved planning things.

When Sirius pulled onto the long driveway, he was surprised to find another car parked in front of the main house.

Sirius parked and as he got out he heard a loud voice, “Hi! Mister Black, right?”

Sirius looked up, squinting behind his sunglasses. This must have been the man Al had left to make sure the property didn’t completely burn down or whatever. Some local lawyer named Fleamont Potter. “Ah, call me Sirius like the star. Hello, Mister Potter, I assume?”

“Yep, hi, how are you? Call me Monty. How was your flight? The traffic must have been wicked bad coming up here. 93 is always a nightmare but you picked one of the worst weekends to conquer it.” The man laughed.

Sirius was surprised he didn’t sound like what most shows and movies depict the accents around the area to be like. His accent was bit Canadian if anything.

“It was terrible but I survived. I stopped a few times along the way to stretch. I’m happy to be out of the car and done traveling finally. Is this place livable or will I need to find other lodgings for a few days? I read there’s a small bed and breakfast nearby and a hotel in a town close by.”

“No need to find somewhere else to stay. Effie, my wife, she made sure to get some people to help out with cleaning this main house once you got in contact with me. At least the main living areas are livable, as is the master bedroom. I wouldn’t go in the basement or attic. She put fresh linens and stuff out. She also stocked the pantry. Before you protest, that’s how Effie is. Well, I’m that way too so it works out fine.” He laughed. “You will need to do some work on this place and the inn itself if you want actually to run the business.”

“Oh, yes, well, I do. I’m going to have to figure it all out.”

“It might take a while.” Mr. Potter said as they walked up the steps into the main house. “This place used to be really popular with tourists but the old owners, the ones who left it before your uncle took it,they couldn’t run it anymore because they didn’t have enough money from what I understand. No one bought the property for a while. Then your uncle came in and bought it about ten years after it was left to sit and rot. He got as far as fixing this main house. Then he left, what, thirty years ago, I think? He came to stay every so often in the main place but never stayed long enough to do anything or make anything happen. We hadn't seen him in ages, though.”

Sirius nodded, as much as he loved Al, it sounded like him. “He was scattered.”

“Seemed like a freakin genius, if you ask me. Nice guy but wow, he was out there.”

“Al made all his money in the tech industry.” Sirius shrugged as Mr. Potter opened the door. “I have no idea what he did but I’m sure he was some sort of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates and none of us know.”

Before Mr. Potter could say anything, Sirius was surprised at how nice the house smelled as they walked into the entryway. It smelled like someone was cooking something in the kitchen and there was this lemon scent, not cleaner but a fresh citrus. There was also this piney-woodsy aroma in the air, as if someone had just been doing some carpentry work. Sirius inhaled deeply. This was how he wanted his home to smell like. There must to be some candle for it.

“So, this here is the check-in desk but everything else for the guests is in the larger house. Honestly, I would make it so this was even over there if you wanted to redo it.” Fleamont suggested. “It’s nice to have a separate house from the business. This could be a large mudroom.”

Sirius nodded in agreement, not sure what a mudroom was but he did think the check-in desk did feel a little strange there. Especially when they walked passed the desk and went down the hallway, which opened up into the living room. It was nearly bare with the exception of a large sofa and telly. The walls were an off-white, maybe with some undertone of pink it seemed. “That used to be my couch and TV.” Mr. Potter explained with a chuckle. “My wife wanted to get rid of it and buy something new so we thought one day someone would get used out of it in here. Al only left a bed, really.”

“Oh, well, thank you for thinking that way.” Sirius hadn’t thought through what the house would have for him when he arrived. It could have been anything. It could have been completely uninhabitable. Thankfully he could live there without any hassle. Though it did need some work, Sirius noted as Fleamont continued his tour into the rather large kitchen then the equally large dining room and small bathroom.

Overall, the house needed just a little bit of love. It was mostly paint, maybe some other stuff that Sirius couldn’t see because he wasn’t an expert. He would need to hire someone. He was going to need to hire someone anyway to work on the inn, Sirius considered as they made their way upstairs.

Fleamont pointed out the three bedrooms, one with an ensuite bathroom and another small bathroom in the hall. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s nice. So, what will I need?”

“I already got the electricity turned on. You’re going to need oil for your heat,” Fleamont explained. “The sooner the better because those prices are going to be insane this year. I can give you the information for that.”

“Right, what about cable and internet?”

“Effie left that information for you on a post-it on the fridge. She thought about setting it up for you but I told her you might not want it.”

“Thank you so much, Mister Potter.” Sirius smiled. He felt very at ease with the older man. There was something calming about the grey-haired lawyer.

“Not a problem, and it’s Monty, please. I can also give you information on a local contractor, though it will be a bit bias so, you could look elsewhere.”

“Bias?”

“The Prewett-Weasleys are old friends and it’s their company. My son’s best friend also works there with them.”

Sirius nodded, “Oh, I’m sure they’re great.” If they were anything like Mr. Potter then he was positive they would be wonderfully helpful. “I could stop by your office tomorrow, if that works? For the contractor’s information.”

“Sure, why don’t you come by tomorrow morning for that. I’m there after 9 and right through lunch then I have to be elsewhere.” He explained.

“I can do that.” Sirius said as the started to walk downstairs.

“If I had time I would show you around the other building but I’m needed on a call. Let me know if you need anything else. My office is right on Main Street. Number 118.”

Sirius stored the information away in his brain as they reached the bottom of the steps. He was exhausted from his travels and just wanted to put a movie on his laptop and crash. He would take care of everything later. He had plenty of time now and plenty of money to do whatever he wanted, at whatever pace he wanted.

***

Remus Lupin whistled to himself as he swept up the shavings that he had made from his work on from Molly’s birthday gift. He had been so into it that he didn’t realize it was time for him to close up shop until he looked out the window to see it was dark. The nights were coming earlier now, so fall was making it’s way to New Hampshire. Not that Remus was complaining, he loved fall. It was one of the reasons why he stuck around his home state even when he felt callings to other places. Even when he had lived in those other places. He was getting pretty damn sick of the summer and the humidity. He couldn’t wait for the crispness in the air then eventually the snow.

“God, what is taking you so long? Mom is going to murder you. Your mom is going to murder you.” James Potter came barging into his shop. His booming voice bounced through the empty shop. “I’m also starving and Lily is probably waiting for us, thinking about murder as well. Who knows, maybe they’re all planning. I know dad isn’t too prone to those thoughts but who knows.”

Remus laughed, setting the broom aside. “I got carried away with Molly’s gift.”

“Sometimes I laugh in my head about how much of an artist you are at times. You used to be so studious in school then you went to an artsy fartsy college and look at you now.”

Remus rolled his eyes as he went to grab his keys from behind the cash register where he stored them. James went to the back to hit the lights while Remus got his things. He was sure that James was working late at the law office, so he wasn’t to blame for their lateness too much. Remus was going to be sure to point that out when they got to the Potter’s house.

“Dad met that guy.”

“That guy?” Remus snickered at his friends’ vagueness while they walked out the door.

“You know, that one that’s taking up the property on Broomhill.” James explained as Remus locked up.

“Oh, right. He’s related to that weirdo that used come around every so often, right?”

“Yeah, sure, it’s that guy’s nephew. I don’t know if he’s as weird as him. But dad thinks he’s going to redo the property.”

“That’s good, it’s been sitting vacant for too long. With all the tourism around here, people would kill for more options to stay. There’s nothing here in Godric’s for people. We have the natural hot spring and the gorge, so I’m surprised there isn’t anything.”

“That’s because people are assholes and reject any person coming here trying to make money off the Hollow.” James reminded Remus, as if he could forget what this small town was like. “I’m sure this guy is going to have a wicked hard time trying to gain some footing around here.”

“Well, your dad will help him. So will everyone else we like, as long as he’s not weird and crazy. I’ll even build him a few things if he doesn’t piss me off too much.” Remus said with a chuckle as they got to James’ car. Remus didn’t drive to his work because his house was just a stone’s through from Main Street. Even in the winter the walk wasn’t too bad. Plus, he’d probably spend more time outside if he dug his car out and heated up then found a parking spot close by then walked to his shop.

“Dad said the cabinets you did for the house look great.” James unlocked his doors.

“Good, they’re in the same style as the rest of the kitchen. Hopefully that guy doesn’t tear them out. The ones that were in there were very 80’s. They don't need to be redone.” Remus slid into the car.

“Honestly, I’m sure he’ll leave just like everyone else who’s thought about redoing the property.” James said darkly as he started the car.

Remus rolled his eyes as the car made annoying dinging sounds until his buckled his seatbelt. “It’s not cursed.”

“They call it the Shrieking Shack, you know!” James said in a stage whisper like something bad was going to happen if he spoke the words loud and clear.

Since they were kids, the place on Broomhill laid abandoned. It was well before they were kids that anyone had lived there permanently. The main house was fixed up enough after this new guy’s uncle came around but the other part to the property needed a major renovation. It looked haunted, so of course, the local kids made up dumb stories about the place. When they were younger, Remus, James, Peter, and Frank attempted to stay the night but were scared off when James and then Peter “heard screaming”. Remus heard nothing but he was spooked enough and didn’t plan on staying there alone haunted or not.

“First of all, you called it the Shrieking Shack and it somehow managed to catch on at our high school.” Remus snorted, rolling down the window as James began to drive. He was going to miss the warm summer nights, even if he was looking forward to fall. They needed to have at least one more bonfire before the nights got too cold.

“Remus! You heard it!”

“I didn’t!” Remus said as they drove past the Potter’s law office. Tourists were mostly crowding the main street looking for food and enjoying the waning summer night. “You heard it then Peter hopped on the bandwagon. I don’t know what Frank thought but I heard shit. You’re fucking insane.” He shook his head as the car passed by Broomhill Lane. Remus could see the two large white houses in the distance. For the first time in recent memory, the main house was filled with light.

“I am not. It’s haunted and cursed. It’s called Broomhill because the witch that lived on it.”

“A witch did not live on it.” Remus said with no inflection.

“Back during the Witch Trails.” James insisted eagerly.

“This part of New Hampshire didn’t have any part of the trials. I’m pretty sure the only witch was out in Portsmouth. I don’t think anything lived out here at that point.”

“The witch that got away from Salem lived on Broomhill.”

“Nope.” Remus rolled his eyes at his friend’s revised version of history. None of that actually happened but James did love to spin a good story. He always had, since they were in first grade. You would think that he was the son of a writer.

Deciding that it was a good time to change the subject somewhat, Remus brought up the new owner again. “I just hope this guy is okay. I mean, not strange and not an asshole.”

“Me too. Hopefully dad has some dirt.”

Soon enough they arrived at the Potter’s house. It wasn’t too far from Broomhill and Main Street but it was fairly isolated. Remus loved the Potter’s house because it was the perfect mix of warm and inviting and modern and interesting. Effie was an intriguing person with an eclectic style. That was probably why she and Remus’ artsy mother got along so well.

Inside the Potter’s house, Remus went straight to the dining room, where he heard Effie, Lily, Monty, Harry, and his mom laughing. “Hey, ma.” He said dropping a kiss on her cheek then going to do the same to the other women. He ruffled Harry’s hair and patted Monty on the shoulder.

“Why are you two late? We’re all starvin’ here.” Effie said with her Bostonian accent, which grew thicker when she was mad, excited, or annoyed. She was clearly annoyed with them at the moment.

“Remus was wrapped up in Molly’s birthday gift.” James explained.

“James showed up late.” Remus said, sitting down between his mom and Monty around a mahogany table that he had made. Harry, Lily and James’ 10-year-old boy and his godson, grinned at him.

“Sure he did.” His mom laughed, reaching to the center of the table to take the bowl of peas. Everyone else was going for the ham, potatoes, and rolls as well.

This group always did Friday dinners. Especially since Remus returned home from studying at SCAD in Atlanta for furniture design then at FIDI in Florence for his masters in furniture design. His dad used to be at the table too but sadly he had passed away three years ago during a very hard time in Remus’ life. Now there was an empty spot at the table for that time. Remus did his best not to think of it as he listened to the conversations around the table.

“So, how’s the new guy? The one on Broomhill.” James questioned his dad.

“Oh, he’s nice. Tired, I think, but not an oddball like his uncle. I could have a conversation with him. I think you all should get to know him. I would say he’s about your age.” Monty explained before taking a bite of his roll.

“Does he know the place is cursed?” James said then Lily let out a sharp laugh. “It is!”

“It is not. You’re crazy.” Lily accused his husband. “It’s just an abandoned property that needs love.”

“Needs an exorcism.” James muttered.

“Dad, I don’t think it’s haunted.” Harry shook his head.

“Is he sticking around?” Remus asked Monty.

“It seems like it. He doesn’t look like he’ll fit in much here though. He looks like he’s on a business trip in Boston. So, he’s going to need some time to acclimate, I think. Who knows between the locals, the weather, the wildlife, and the tourists, he might just run right back home to Singapore.”

“Singapore?” Remus gaped. He knew that the uncle was from that part of the world but had lived in England pretty much all his life. Singapore really was a different world. The climate was much different. The poor guy was going to end up freezing to death over the winter.

“Yeah, I don’t know why he wants to be here. All his family is out there, probably in England too like Al. But, we should make him feel welcome.” Monty suggested.

“Let’s invite him to dinner. Tell him that I am insisting.” Effie said with a big smile.

“That sounds like a great idea.” His mom smiled and agreed.

Remus wanted to protest a little, not exactly a big fan of new people. His own friends and family could be exhausting enough sometimes even if he did love them to pieces. This new guy was probably insanely rich and pretentious too if he inherited anything left by Al Black, the tech giant.


	3. Chapter 3

Sirius had woken up before dawn because his sodding internal clock was all thrown off with all the travel he had done over the last week. But he did yoga, took a shower, and called the cable company to get service so he could watch other things than the few movies and shows he had saved on his laptop. Once that was all taken care off, he was ridiculously hungry since he fell asleep without eating a thing the night before. Even though there was food left by Mrs. Potter in his kitchen he decided he would go grab something to eat at the diner he remembered passing on his drive in. It looked very American, which was inviting at the moment. He had gone to a few before when he we on business and always had the best breakfast.

Walking up the street towards Main Street, Sirius looked around him and took a deep breath. He could see the tops of some mountains in the distance, all green at the moment. He felt excited thinking about seeing them covered in snow in the coming seasons. He had experienced snow before in England, nothing like the snow that he would get to see here. Plus, it had been some time since he had been in snow. He was 30, nearing 31, and hadn’t been in England in the winter since he was 22.

Main Street was not as busy as it was the afternoon before. It was still fairly early. The tree-lined, cobblestone street was quiet and it seemed that most of the shops were either just opening or still closed. He passed Mr. Potter’s office, a few shops, a bakery, and some wood artisan’s place. Sirius made a mental note to stop by there after seeing Monty because he could use some furniture, why not go local? Everything in his old flat was picked out by his mother and came from some high-end designer or was some sort of family heirloom. It wasn’t his style at all. Now he got to do his own thing even with that, which was exciting.

When Sirius opened the door to the diner, his senses were assaulted in the best possible way. The diner smelt like every delicious breakfast food and… apples? He wasn’t sure why he noticed the apple to prominently but he liked it. His mouth was watering. The diner looked straight out of the fifties with checkered floors and shiny table tops and counters. The was a nice hum of conversation coming from the full diner.

“How many?” The redheaded girl behind the glass counter displaying Puddifoot Diner tee shirts in every color asked him.

“Just one. I can sit at the counter.” Sirius pointed to the countertop of the diner that wrapped around the center of the restaurant.

“Yeah, sure, go ahead.” The girl nodded in the direction of the counter.

Sirius took a seat at the end, a seat away from the closest customers. All the other empty seats seemed to be a buffer between one of two people. He looked through the menu, shocked at how cheap everything seemed and how the other diner’s servings looked so large. It contained every average American breakfast food and some things that were new to him. Maybe he’d look more at the new things later but he knew what he wanted immediately today.

“Hi, what can I get ya?” A brunette woman asked in a peppy voice. She had blue eyes and a nice smile. Her bright pink shirt had an outline of the state with the diner’s name on it. Where Godric's Hollow was located had a cup of coffee on top of it to mark where they were.

“Oh, a -ah short stack of blueberry pancakes with a side of bacon.” Sirius said, putting his menu back on the stand that he had grabbed it from.

“Anything to drink hun? Coffee? OJ?”

“A coffee please.”

“Sure thing.” She smiled. “Be right back with the coffee.”

Sirius reached for his phone as the man next to him turned in his direction. “You’re that guy who’s going to get rid of the property on Broomhill, aren’t you?” The man had scraggly black hair and a big nose. The bloke next to him was very large and a bit dumb looking with that empty stare going on. Neither of them appeared to be someone that Sirius wanted to associate with.

“I’m not getting rid of anything. I was going to restore it, actually.” Sirius said breezily. He didn't want to get into it with anyone about something he wasn't positive about yet anyway. But he knew he was not going to get rid of it.

“Not what we heard.” An older woman on the other side of the counter said.

“I — I don’t plan on doing anything but restoring it and bringing it back to life. I’m not sure what any other gossip could be. I haven't even been in town for 24 hours.” Sirius shook his head.

Another local scoffed nearby.

“Just watch yourself.” The black haired man said, standing up.

“That place has a curse, you know?” The larger man said, following his friend.

Sirius wasn’t sure what to say, feeling rather uneasy and unwelcome now. He was hoping that the people of the town would be more like Monty and less like the people here. For a while he was thinking that it was going to be like this but Monty put him at ease. Now, he was starting to doubt everything. Even when he was thinking people might be arseholes, he never thought he would be affected by it. Now he was experiencing it, it didn’t feel very good.

“Here’s your coffee, hun.” The waitress came back, setting the mug in front of him. She leaned against the countertop and whispered, “Don’t listen to them. They’re just asshole townies who can’t tell you the first thing about well, anything. Neither of them went to college, not that that means anything but it does with them because they couldn’t get into a place even if they wanted to. Lucky they got through high school. Plus, no common sense. They've got nothing.”

“Thanks.” Sirius smiled at the woman. “What’s your name?”

“Alice, I already know you’re Sirius. Word travels fast.” She chuckled. “Plus my husband is best friends with the son of the Monty Potter.”

“I see.” Sirius laughed, feeling himself relax again. He was happy to see that there were other nice people in the town.

“Are you really staying there? At Broomhill?”

“Yes,” Sirius paused, thinking about what the man said. “Is it really cursed?”

“No, that’s a load of horse shit.” Alice shook her head. “It’s just one of those places that gets a reputation because it just lays abandoned, you know? Don’t listen to that.”

“Yes, I guess you’re right.” He said. “The main house is wonderful. It does need some work but it’s not so bad.”

“It’s the guest house that needs everything you can give it. Have you talked to anyone about the building yet? You’re going to need to hire some people.”

“No, I haven’t even got cable and wifi yet.” Sirius laughed. “That’s coming Monday, thankfully. Then I’ll go from there.”

“You might want to plan now then get started after the winter if you can wait. You won’t get much done during the winter here. There are some companies around that are good.”

“Monty mentioned someone Prewett-err… someone? I’m actually going to see him about that after I eat.”

“Oh, Prewett-Weasley. Yes, of course he did.” She laughed. “They’re old friends. Arthur, the owner, he did Monty and Effie’s house. It’s beautiful.”

“Great.” Sirius smiled.

“I’m sure Effie will have you around for dinner at some point so you can see it.” Alice looked over her shoulder. “I should probably get back to my tables and the other customers, ha. But, if you need anything, let me know. Monty — all the Potters, they’re great too. If you need anything at all, they’ll make sure you’re all set.”

“Thanks, Alice.” Sirius smiled, picking up the off-white ceramic mug. He wrapped his hands around it, feeling the warmth of the coffee.

The rest of his time at the diner was uneventful. Thankfully no one else decided to comment on his property or what he was doing there. The pancakes were the most delicious things he had eaten in a long time, fluffy and buttery. Alice was sweet, so he left her a nice tip.

When he was done, he walked back towards the Potter’s office. Monty greeted him and gave him the information for the Prewett-Weasley Group. Monty also invited him for dinner next Friday, as it was some type of tradition (Alice was right it seemed). Effie, his wife, apparently wanted to welcome him to the area properly. Sirius accepted, even if he was a little unsure about it. Making new friends and acquaintances was a bit nerve-wracking, even if Monty seemed great. He wondered if Alice would be there since her husband was friends with Monty’s son.

“Next time, hopefully you’ll meet James. He’s not in today, it is Saturday and all but I had some work to do.” Monty said as he walked Sirius back out towards the reception area. There was a blonde woman with curly hair sitting behind the desk now. She wasn’t in the office when he had come in. “Marlene, this is Sirius Black. The man who now owns the place on Broomhill.”

Marlene grinned, “Hello.” Sirius thought that she was checking him out. Sadly, he wasn’t interested but she was beautiful. If he were into women, he was sure that he’d be flirting with her.

“Hi, nice to meet you.” Sirius nodded at Marlene.

“What are you up to for the rest of the day?” Monty asked.

“I was going to stop by that woodworking shop then I’m going to—”

“Remus' shop!” Marlene cut him off. “Sorry, that’s Remus’ shop. Remus is one of my best friends. One of Monty son’s too.” She said. “He’s freaking amazing, trained in Florence. Remus has sold stuff to celebrities even. You’ll love his work.”

Sirius’ eyes went wide. He wasn’t expecting that from some woodworker in the middle of nowhere New Hampshire. “Brilliant, I’ll stop in there now.”

“You really should.” Marlene nodded a bit eagerly. Sirius was not sure what that was all about and he didn’t fancy trying to guess what it was. Probably something to do with him being an outsider...

Once he said his goodbyes, Sirius left the old law office and went back down the street towards the shop. He checked his watch to make sure it was open before walking through the door. Inside, the smell reminded him of his new home with fresh pine and lemon. The shop was filled with beautiful chairs, desks, and smaller carvings.

“Be with you in a minute!” A deep voice called out.

Sirius’ eyes followed the voice to see that the work area was a bit visible. He could see a man who was probably taller than him. He couldn’t see his face that well but he lifted the hem of his shirt of to wipe his face, revealing his abdomen.

At that, Sirius just happened to fall over a low bench. “Shite,” He cursed.

“Are you okay?” The man — Remus as Marlene said — asked, coming out from the work area. Sirius could hear his boots on the concrete floor.

“I’m so sorry!” He said, realizing he broke the bench as there were splinters all over the ground. “I’m a bloody disaster. This is just great.”

The man laughed loudly, deep and rich. “Wow, you’re the first person to break something in here. Congratulations.”

“Oh god, I’m sorry. This really is just my luck.” Sirius rolled over on his back. He covered his eyes with his hands, not wanting to look the other man in the face just yet. He had enough embarrassment for the day with the townspeople bothering him and all.

“It’s all right. The bench has been in here forever. You did me a favor, I think.”

“How much was it? I’ll pay.” Sirius rolled back on to his side, not looking at the man yet. He finally pushed himself up.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re Sirius right? You’re living out a Broomhill now? You can commission something nice and I’ll just charge you a little more to make up for this.” The man grinned as Sirius finally laid his eyes on him. “I’m Remus Lupin.”

Remus stood in front of him with a big grin, showing off his dimples. He had strong arms (one covered in tattoos) and legs, which showed from the rolled of sleeves of his red v-neck shirt and tight jeans. Sirius was sure that he could probably pick Sirius up and carry him off if he wanted to. His curly light brown hair was cut into an undercut. Remus’ lips were a little pouty and his nose was just a little big but it suited his face. Shite. He was gorgeous. “I am Sirius, yes, ah, Sirius Black. Hello. This is really the worst introduction and I just had some random locals practically yell at me at the diner.”

The taller man rolled his eyes, “I can guess some names. Don’t listen to them. Do what you want. I just hope you stick around.”

“Right, I plan on it.”

“It’s a lot different than from Singapore.”

Sirius blinked, “You know I’m from Singapore?”

“You live in a small town now, everyone knows everything. Eventually all your deep dark secrets will be out for everyone.” Remus snickered and looked like the town had already had his secrets out.

Sirius didn’t want his deep dark secrets out. He especially didn’t want this handsome man to know any of them. “Well, I’ll have to get used to it because it’s now where I’m going to be living.”

“I hope it all works out.” Remus said, seeming just the slightest bit skeptical. “So, would you like to see anything in here?”

“I would love to see whatever you want to show me. Though, I’m not sure I trust myself not to fall over something and break it.”

Remus laughed, “I’m sure you’ll be fine. Let's start with the small carvings. Just don't pick them up.”

Sirius wasn’t exactly sure he would be now for a few reasons. Remus Lupin being a few of them.

***

Another reason to pray for the end of summer, was the end of so many fucking people in his favorite bar (The Three Broomsticks), Remus thought. Even the leaf peepers weren’t so bad because they didn’t linger. They normally took buses from elsewhere and were out soon enough. Then the skiers normally stuck to the resorts. He sat down next to Lily, Alice, and Marlene, across from his was Frank, James, and Dorcas. Peter, Mary, the Prewett twins, and older Weasley boys were all busy so they weren’t coming out for a drink as they usually did on Saturday.

“Have you met him yet?” Dorcas asked Remus with wide eyes. “I haven’t but Marlene did.”

“He’s so your type.” Alice said accusingly.

“Him, who?” Remus attempted to act as if he didn’t know they were talking about Sirius Black. The man could be pretty much anyone’s type with the jawline and those icy blue eyes. He was immediately attracted to him physically but it didn't go past that. Plus, he only talked to him for a little while.

“Shut up. You know we’re talking about Sirius.” Marlene glared. “He was going by your place after he left the office. I took one look at him and knew he’d be right up your alley.”

“Yeah, he came by. He broke one of my fucking pieces then bought the carving of a dog and promised to commission something for his house once he decided on what he wanted over there.” Remus shrugged.

Before meeting Sirius, Remus was sure he was going to dislike the man because he was born into a stinking rich family and had inherited the property from his strange uncle. Then Sirius had to come crashing into his shop and embarrassed himself to the point that it took him a few minutes to even look Remus in the eye. It was sort of sweet. Remus couldn’t help but feel bad for the poor guy. He was new in town, and now he was breaking stuff in an artisan’s shop? He also disclosed that Snape had given him shit earlier along with some other horrible townies that Remus despised. It didn't sound like he was having a wonderful day.

“This is so not fair. I haven’t met him yet!” James complained. He always wanted to be first, no matter what it was. Best grades, highest points in soccer, first friend to get a kiss, first person to lose his virginity in the group, first person to get his college acceptance letter, first to get married, first to have a kid...

“He broke one of your pieces? Ouch!” Lily said in shock. “How?”

“He wasn’t paying attention and just fell over that low bench that hasn’t sold in a million years.” Remus shrugged. He wasn’t upset over it because the bench really had been sitting in his shop for the last two years. Sirius was also extremely remorseful, so he wasn't going to hold it against him too much.

“He must be hot if you don’t care.” Dorcas concluded.

“He’s beautiful.” Alice said with wide eyes. “Not that you’re not handsome, Frank.”

“I’m not worried.” Frank laughed at his wife.

“So, what do you think Remus?” Lily asked. “Is he as hot as these guys are saying?”

Remus shrugged, doing his best to act nonchalant. “He’s handsome. Like a male model.” Like a male model that Remus wanted to take home and drive into the mattress for a few hours every day but he didn’t really care to get entangled in anything. “He’s like a nice piece of art. Pretty to look at.”

The group looked at him funny.

“What?” He was hoping that his comments would make them all move on. Deep down Remus knew what was coming. He knew that this was going to circle around to how he hadn’t dated in so long.

“I think you should try getting back out there. It’s been three years since—”

“I know it’s been three years since Benjy killed himself.” Remus said bluntly. He didn’t like dancing it around too much. Benjy had killed himself two weeks after Remus’ dad passed after fighting cancer then a few months later Remus had an epic fling with a tourist that he was sure he was love at the time but it just made him more broken hearted when he left. “I haven’t dated because the pool isn’t exactly swimming here. Everyone here has been here since I was a kid and most of the dateable ones are married and the other are my best friends.”

“Enter Sirius Black. The mysterious man from another country here to fix the property on Broomhill. He’s a perfect chance for a little romance.”

“We don’t even know he’s interested in men.” Remus reminded them all.

“I’d place money on it that he is.” Marlene said. “My lesbian senses were telling me he was. There was the fellow queer vibe. You know it.”

Remus shook his head. “Even if he is, doesn’t mean he’d date me or that I’d want to date him. So give it a rest.”

“Fine. But he’s fucking hot.” Alice shrugged. “Your loss if you don’t go for it.”

Just because he was hot didn’t mean a thing. He could be an asshole. Or, as Sirius himself said it, a complete disaster. Remus didn’t need anyone who was a disaster. He had that before and he was that before. He was finally happy, stable, and not in a bad place overall. If Sirius was going to be a new good friend that was fine. But he didn’t want anything else from it.


	4. Chapter 4

Sundays were always Remus’ favorite days. He loved how easy they always felt. Plus, it was one of the days he closed his shop and planned to do nothing. As a kid, he would spend it with his parents then when he was a teenager, he and his friends would just laze about outside or at one of their houses. In college, he sort of lost his Sundays because days always blurred together. Even after college, things weren’t always smooth. It wasn’t until after that hard year, Remus finally got back to Sundays. He also relearned how to appreciate them.

Now, every Sunday, he took his dog Snuffles out for a walk. They went to the farmer’s market when it was open during Spring through Fall. In the winter, they would play around in the snow. Afterward, he would bring Snuffles home then get a coffee and baked good at Rowena’s Café and Bakery. Then he would go home and watch TV with Snuffles for the rest of the day. Sometimes he had dinner with his friends or mom. But for the most part he spent it alone. Well, not totally, he had the dog.

Today was a great day to walk around the market. The sun was shining and there were big fluffy white clouds in the sky. Even though he wanted fall, it was nice to have a few more warm days. Dorcas was at the market selling the fresh fruits and veggies she grew in her and Marlene’s garden. Molly was selling her soaps with the help of Ginny and Luna. Gideon was selling his own veggies, which he grew on the same property as his weed but he couldn’t exactly sell that at the Farmer’s Market. Mary’s dad was there with all of his things too.

“How’s it going, man?” Remus asked Gideon when he stopped in front of his stall. “Any kale left?”

“Yeah and the leeks are looking good too. Dori has some nice looking plums and pears.” Gideon pointed across the way.

“I’ll have to get some.” Remus said, picking up a squash. “Anything interesting going on?”

“No, but I think Snape is going to lose his mind because Fabian swiped his keys when he wasn’t paying attention. Now the idiot is looking everywhere for them.”

Remus laughed, glancing up to see Snape on his hands and knees looking under the cars parked in the nearby library parking lot.

“Oh! There’s the new guy. Sirius, right?” Gideon pointed behind Remus.

At Dorcas’ stall, Sirius was chatting happily. He had his long black hair up in a messy bun and he was wearing glasses. Remus bit his lip, trying very hard not to think about how the man’s jeans and grey shirt were clinging to him perfectly. Why did this good looking man have to come into his life like this? Why did he want to get to know him better? He wished that he could pretend to hate him. That would have been easier. Sirius was far to nice to pretend to hate and he knew his mom and friends would catch on to that quicker than him just being nice to Sirius.

“Yep, that’s him. The new guy.”

“Hope Broomhill is treating him alright. Two nights now and he’s not running scared.”

“For god sakes, it’s not haunted or cursed.” Remus shook his head. “Just give me the fucking kale, will you?”

Gideon laughed and went on about the place and how he and Fabian had seen a ghost there one night. Remus was sure they were probably just high as fuck but didn’t say a word, he just let his friend talk. He hated engaging in the so called curse talk.

Once he got his kale (and some leeks because Gid insisted), he went towards Dorcas’ stall where Sirius was chatting with her. “Hey, there you are. We were talking about you.” She said happily. Remus wasn’t too sure if he should be happy about that or not.

“God, why?” Remus shook his head.

“Sirius was asking about Snuffles.” Dorcas explained and Remus realized the man was staring at his dog. Snuffles was as large as a Newfie but he was also mixed with something else, Remus wasn’t sure what but he was fluffy, black, and adorable.

“He’s beautiful and huge.” Sirius put his hand out and Snuffles smelt it before licking it. “Does he pull sleds or something?”

Remus couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him. “No, he mostly lazes around my house and the shop. It’s a miracle that he comes out for walks.”

“Oh, but I’m sure he gives wonderful cuddles.” Sirius bent down and scratched behind Snuffles ears. “Sorry, I love dogs. I always wanted one but I felt horrible leaving it for so long while I worked before.”

“I was just saying to him that a pet might be good to get.” Dorcas grinned. “Remus can tell you about the animal rescue not too far from here. Frank, our friend, he actually runs it.”

“That’s Alice’s husband, right? She was my waitress at the diner the yesterday.”

“See, he’s already learning. You’re going to do just fine here.” Dorcas laughed before turning to a customer.

Sirius stood up to his full height, which was still much shorter than Remus’. “So, do you still not hate me for breaking your things?”

“It was one thing and no, I still do not hate you for that. You embarrassed your self thoroughly yesterday. I would feel horrible if I hated you.” Remus said as he and Sirius started to walk slowly. “How is the house?”

“Great, I think. I still haven’t really looked at the other house yet. It looks a bit beyond repair.”

“I’m sure it’s fine. It has good bones.” Remus assured him. “You know, you have so much land. You have right up to the MacDonald’s farm then all the way out to the tree line then up past that hill.”

“I’m not sure what that means. All I see is grass and an overgrown garden and a sad looking gazebo when I look at the land.”

“You’ve got to go up the hill on the right of the property to get a good look.” Remus shook his head. “I could show you one day, I guess. If you want.”

“Oh, that’d be nice, thank you.” Sirius smiled. “I think I’m going to take this week to relax and get settled. Maybe do a bit of shopping. What about next week at some point?”

“Sounds good.” Remus nodded as Sirius looked to see Snape now laying on his stomach looking under the car. “Gideon said his twin, Fabian, stole the asshole’s keys so he’s looking for him everywhere.”

“Ah, that’s the bloke—”

“Figured.” Remus said before Sirius could finish the sentence as they reached the edge of the market. “He and the other townies liked him give the rest of us locals a bad name.”

“Monty and the rest of the people that you seem to be mates with or know are all lovely. You’ve made me feel very welcome.” Sirius smiled, reaching down to pet Snuffles again. “I — I sort of made this decision on a whim and I didn’t think it through at all. I was in a situation I was dying to get out of and this sort of just fell into my lap. I’m glad that I’ve found some decent people to help make the landing a bit easier.”

Remus frowned, wondering what that situation was. Was the man on the run from some crime? Was he leaving some type of bad relationship? He figured he didn’t know the man well enough to ask quite yet. “I hope you do stay. Someone needs to turn that property around.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“But, it sounds like you need to take your time to settle in. Don’t rush it.” Remus smiled. “Take the week and don’t do a thing. Don’t even think about what you want to do with the property. Just relax at your place and maybe get to know the town a little.”

“Thank you, Remus.” Sirius grinned then ducked his head.

“You know, you’ve met nearly everyone who matters in this down with the exception of James, Monty’s son, and his wife and kid. But James is going to lose his mind. I think you should go out and meet Peter and then Frank then stop by the MacDonalds farm and maybe meet Effie and my mom. To piss James off.”

Sirius laughed, “Why?”

“I love him, he’s practically my brother, but he thinks that he’s still Prom King and Class President and captain of the soccer team.” Remus chuckled. “I know that makes him sound like an idiot but you will like him. Everyone loves James, Lily, and the rest of the Potters. If there was a ruling family of this place, it’d be them.”

“Good to know.” Sirius said, pushing his glasses up his nose. “God, I hate these bloody things.”

“Why don’t you have your contacts in?” Remus asked, holding back a comment about how he thought the glasses looked nice.

“My eyes were so dry and irritated this morning. Probably from all the travel.”

“Or hay fever, it’s that’s time of year. Do you have allergies?”

“Ah, not that I know of.” Sirius furrowed his brow.

“Either way, drink lots of water.” He paused. “I’ll let you go. I have some things to do.” Remus lied but he wasn’t sure what else to say. He didn’t want to invite Sirius to tag along on his Sunday. He didn’t know the man well enough to let him intrude upon this restful day. “I’ll see you around, I’m sure. We’ll figure out a time I can come by to show you how big your place is.”

“Yeah, you will. I’m sure and we will.” Sirius agreed with a smile. “Bye, Snuffles, bye Remus.”

Remus said goodbye one more time before walking in the opposite direction. He thought about Sirius as he headed towards his house. So, Sirius had some problem that led him here. He also loved dogs and looked adorable in glasses. Remus really wished he didn’t want to know more about him but he really did. That didn’t mean he wanted to date the other man. He was just curious about the newcomer.

***

On Friday, Sirius was up early once again. This time after doing some yoga, he went to the kitchen to make some breakfast. He had half a grapefruit and an omelette while sitting on his front porch, enjoying the sunrise. Sirius couldn’t get over how peaceful it was here. He was just a few minutes walk from the main area of town and it felt like he was on a planet all his own. Sirius was feeling rather nervous about going to the Potter’s house for dinner. He had spent most of the week holed up in his house, which was nice. He didn’t want to see people for a little while, so he took Remus’ advice of settling in to heart. Except now he was a little worried he was going to turn into a recluse or something.

There were multiple times Sirius thought about going to town but he had enough food for the week. Monty had dropped in with some food Effie had cooked for him as well. Thankfully no one else came by because he felt a bit grungy by Wednesday but didn’t do anything about it until Friday. Now, he was freshly showered, had done laundry, and cleaned the house. He had made numerous lists about what he needed for his house and what he wanted to do with the guest house. Sirius still wasn’t positive what his whole property was. He tried to look at it like Remus said but couldn’t see a thing. He needed the other man to show him.

Remus was interesting to Sirius. He was kind but there was also something standoffish about him. Like he was being guarded for some reason. Sirius considered this as he drove to the Potter’s. Remus Lupin had gone to some prestigious universities for design yet he ended up back here in the middle of nowhere. He was immensely talented from what Sirius saw, surely the man would strike it rich in New York or LA or even Austin or Nashville. But he was in a tiny town in a tiny state. Also, why was he being standoffish?

Thankfully, Remus was going to be there tonight, so he was going to have a chance to see how he acted with his friends and family around him. He was also going to get to meet this James he heard about. Sirius wasn’t sure who else was going to be there outside of Monty, Effie, James and his wife and kid, Remus and his mum. Sirius hoped that it wasn’t more or much more than that because it was already overwhelming.

Pulling into the Potter’s driveway, he saw only four other cars, so he breathed a sigh of relief. He assumed the Potter’s had two cars then James’ family and Remus and his mum. Sirius parked so he wasn’t blocking anyone before getting out and walking up to the house. The house didn’t look as traditional as others that he had seen in the area, certainly not like his. There was more glass and the colors were darker. But it was nice, he thought as he went to ring the doorbell.

Before he could press the bell, the door swung open and an older woman with black hair and one lone silver streak was standing there. “You must be Sirius! I’m Effie, Monty’s wife.”

“Hi, nice to finally meet you.” Sirius went to shake her hand but she instead wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

“It’s so nice to meet you too. Come on in, hun.” She let him go then stepped aside.

“Thank you so much for taking care of the house. I’m glad that I could settle right into it.”

“Don’t worry about it, Sirius.” She waved a hand as they went into the entryway of the house. “It’s always nice to have new people around here. I’m so happy you’re going to be finally taking care of that property.” Effie beamed.

Sirius felt his anxieties melt away in the presence of this woman, just like they did in the presence of Monty. He wondered what it would have been like to grow up in a house that seemed to ooze love from the parents as he followed Effie into the dining room. Around the table were Monty, James (who was the spitting image of Monty), James’ son (who was the spitting image of him), a redheaded woman who Sirius was sure called Lily/James’ wife, Remus, and a very Stevie Nicks looking woman who was probably Remus’ mum.

He was introduced to them all then dinner was served quickly after. They all talked loudly and laughed about stories that were told. The group felt like they immediately took Sirius in without question. It was the opposite of anything he had ever experienced with anyone else in any part of his life. There was always gossiping and vetting and trying to find out who people were and where they came from. Sure, they wanted to know more about him but it seemed like genuine interest, not to see if they had a higher social stature than him.

“God, I never thought I’d meet you.” James said.

Next to him Remus snorted a laugh. “I told you, Sirius.”

“What did you tell him? It’s lies and slander, man. Whatever this guy said.” James pointed at Remus across the table from him.

Sirius chuckled, “He said that you were upset because you weren’t the first to meet me. Something about Prom King. I don’t know.”

James rolled his eyes. “Must we always bring up my high school accomplishments?”

“You always do.” Lily quipped and Harry, their son laughed.

“I do not.” James protested. “Please, don’t listen to them. I’m not some guy stuck in his high school days. I’ve had plenty of life after high school and I’d never go back.”

Sirius nodded, not sure what to say. “Have you all lived here your whole lives?” He decided to ask.

“I grew up a few towns over and met these guys in high school.” Lily explained.

“I grew up here but mom is from Rhode Island and my dad was from Boston.” Remus explained and Sirius tried not to frown at the past tense Remus used for his father. “They both taught at Hogwarts, it’s a college a few towns away. It’s nice, you should visit it one day.” Remus said.

“We liked it here. I still do.” Hope, Remus’ mum grinned.

“I’m from Boston and Monty is from New York. We moved here when Jamie was oh, I think four. We were sick of the rat race.” Effie said as she buttered a roll. “Monty does work at the office but he teaches at Hogwarts now mostly. James does most of the regular office things. There’s not much for a lawyer around here.” She laughed.

“How are you liking it here so far?” Lily asked him.

“It’s beautiful here and everything is at a different pace than what I’m used to. Everyone — er well, aside from a couple of locals— people are mostly nice. Alice at the diner and I met Dorcas and Marlene and those two red headed twins. Ah, I didn’t do much exploring this week because I wanted to relax a little.” Sirius told the group around the table.

“That’s a good idea. Traveling from Singapore must have been tiring. I hate jet lag.” Effie complained.

“I actually was in England right before coming here but I came from Singapore to there. It was a bit of a whirlwind.” Sirius accepted the bowl of roasted potatoes that were handed to him by Remus.

“So, you weren’t planning on coming here?” Monty asked.

Sirius felt himself flush. He didn’t know these people, he couldn’t tell him his whole life story but he felt like he needed to tell them something. “I was — I was really unhappy with my life and this just happened. It was impulsive to say the least, but it feels very right.”

“That’s good,” Monty said with a kind smile.

“Life can be a funny thing. Sometimes making a leap is what you need to do.” Hope added.

Sirius had a feeling that she was very right. Sirius was always being impulsive but he never took a true leap at what he wanted. Now he did and only a week in, he was sure that he did the right thing. Sure, there was so much to be done and still so much settling in to do, but he was now on the right track.

By the end of the night, Sirius felt as if this group had adopted him. That meant in turn, the rest of their friends would also be inviting him places. He was already asked to go to some woman named Molly’s birthday next Saturday and James told him they were planning to have one last bonfire before it got too cold out.

As he was leaving, Remus and Hope were walking to their cars as well. He was feeling relaxed and stuffed full of the good food that he was fed (and sent home with). “Sirius, did you still want me to come out and show you the property?” Remus asked as they got close to their cars.

“Oh, that would be brilliant. I was trying to figure it out the other day but couldn’t see it.” Sirius explained to the taller man.

“I could probably stop by on Monday, if that works for you.”

“Yeah, my calendar isn’t exactly full.” Sirius laughed.

“You can also fill it with coming to my place for dinner one night.” Hope grinned. “I’m gone for a little bit but when I get back, you’ll come over.”

Sirius nodded, he couldn’t protest. He wanted to be around these wonderful people as much as possible. Plus, Hope who was dressed in peak boho witchy clothes with various moon and Celtic knots for jewelry seemed intriguing. It also may have had a little do with the fact he wanted to know more about Remus Lupin.


	5. Chapter 5

Remus spent enough time poking around the property on Broomhill Lane in his formative years that he knew it well. He also knew the property line because had asked Monty before Sirius had even came to stake his claim on the land. So, going out to give Sirius a better idea of what he was working with was an easy task for him to do. It had nothing to do with the fact that Sirius Black was the first person in what felt like ages that he wanted to have sex with. Nothing at all. He needed to push that little thought all the way away because he really didn’t want that.

Walking up to the house, Remus smiled when he saw the black cat that hung around town lounging on Sirius’ porch in the midmorning sun. Remus had yet to determine if it was owned by someone in town or it just somehow ended up in Godric’s by chance. “He’s a dog you know? It’s in his name.” Remus chuckled to himself as the cat scurried away.

The old floorboards of the porch creaked under Remus’ footfalls. He was sure that Sirius would need to put a new one on the house soon, some of the boards looked like they had rot. Remus was honestly surprised the house was still standing. It hadn’t been really worked on for ages. Sure, Sirius’ uncle did some things but not the regular maintenance and care that was needed for such an old place.

Remus knocked on the front door and a few seconds later, Sirius opened it. The man was wearing jeans, sneakers, and a plain purple t-shirt. He still looked too well put together for the area. Sirius’ long hair was tied back in a messy bun but he was now sans glasses, which made Remus a little sad. He liked Sirius’ glasses. It’s not that they made him look smarter as people said of people who put on glasses. They didn’t even make him look more refined. Remus just thought that Sirius looked more relaxed in them.

“Thank you so much for coming.” Sirius’ plummy tones were almost jarring. His voice was so smooth, Remus could listen to him read a car manual all night. No one had a voice like him. Not even Fleur, her French wasn’t as smooth as Sirius’ voice.

“Not a problem.” Remus shrugged as Sirius stepped outside. “I close the shop on Mondays, so I have nothing going on.”

“Brilliant.”

“I think walking up the hill over here to the right will give us the best view.” Remus pointed in the direction of the hill he was talking about on Sirius’ land.

“Lead on,” Sirius smiled prettily before frowning. “Why is it so bloody hot here? I feel like I’m back in Singapore. It’s September, isn’t it supposed to be colder?”

Remus laughed as they began their walk. “Well, we’ll probably get our first frost by the start of October or the end of September. But usually we’re not freezing cold until at least the end of October. So, it will get chilly at night but nothing too crazy. Then again that could all be wrong and we could wake up with a foot of snow tomorrow. There’s a saying that if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute. That probably was due to New England weather.”

Sirius made a noise of acceptance. “It’s been some time since I’ve been in cold weather. I sure I’m underprepared.”

“You’re going to need some things to survive a winter up here, man. I can show you some places to get you what you need.” Remus offered the other man. Why did he want to be so fucking helpful? Sirius could do all this just fine by himself. Did he actually like Sirius in a crush sort of way like some teenager? He couldn’t possibly do that. Wanting to have sex with him was bad enough. The last thing in the world he wanted was a relationship. Just because Sirius was good looking and nice enough didn’t mean that he should want to date him. He barely knew the man. Plus, even if he was interested, Remus wasn’t positive if Sirius was even interested in men in general or would even be interested in him if he were.

None of that mattered anyhow. Remus didn’t date. He had his heart broken to pieces twice in a short amount of time, he didn’t need to go through all of that again.

“That would be brilliant. I’m a little nervous, if I’m telling the truth.”

“You’ll be fine. It’s beautiful when it snows, plus it’s not like you’re going to have to drive in it much, if at all.” Remus reasoned with Sirius as the gravel patch crunched under their shoes.

They chatted as they made their way up the hill on Sirius’ property. Remus learned that Sirius had a brother back home in Singapore that he was worried about. He didn’t say much on why he was worried, other than the fact Regulus could be too hard on himself and Sirius was normally there to stick up for him. Remus wondered what the Black’s home life was like. From any allusions to it, it didn’t seem like it was too great. They weren’t close enough for Remus to ask any questions just yet. Remus also wasn’t an asshole enough to poke his nose in it, no matter how curious.

“Okay, let’s get on top of this rock.” Remus said, taking the large step up then pushing himself all the way up. When he looked down he saw Sirius frowning. “What?”

“It’s a bit high, isn’t it?”

Remus laughed, “No, come on.” He held out his hand to the other man. “I’ll help pull you up.”

Sirius hesitated for a moment then took Remus’ offered hand. Remus easily helped lift him on top of the rock. He was a skinny thing, Remus thought as Sirius was now standing nearly nose to nose with him. Sirius then stepped back and nearly fell off the rock. Remus quickly grabbed him around the waist to steady him. “Careful.” He let out a huff of a laugh. “Don’t want to crack your skull here. The hospital is pretty far away.”

“That’s reassuring.” Sirius’ cheeks reddened as Remus took his hands away. The poor guy was always embarrassing himself in front of Remus, he thought.

“Okay, look out there.” Remus pointed to the top of Broomhill Lane. “That’s the start of your driveway or Broomhill Lane as we call it.”

“Right, know that.” Sirius nodded.

“Now, follow Holderness Road, the one that runs in front of Broomhill with your eyes until you see the MacDonald’s Farm sign.”

“I can’t believe they farm with that last name.” Sirius chuckled.

“I know, poor Mary growing up. She got a lot of shit.”

“Right, I see the sign.”

“Right before that is the end of your property line going that way.”

“That far?”

“Yep, but you have a lot more. Okay follow the line from just before the sign down the tree line.” Remus explained, pointing with his finger outstretched, as if tracing the boundary for Sirius. “Follow it to the corner with the broken white birch there.”

“Jesus! That’s huge.”

“And then follow the line against the trees just past that little pond. Right there is that edge and it comes down this way, just past us up to the main road again.”

Sirius looked at him with wide eyes. “And all that’s on this property is the two houses and gazebo.”

“There’s the garden too but that’s overgrown.” Remus nodded in the direction of the weed and vine filled garden. The gazebo in the middle looked like was ready to fall down.

“I could do a lot with that, couldn’t I?” Sirius gaped, rubbing the back of his neck.

“There are a lot of great venues around here for weddings and events but I think having one here in Godric's would be a big draw. Look, if you took pictures down there, you have the views of the mountains behind you. If you do the garden right, that’s another thing. That guest house needs some major love, as well as the rest of the property but there’s a lot of potential.”

“I know, I’ve looked at it. I haven’t contacted the contracting company yet because I don’t know exactly what I want.”

“Well, Arthur will help a lot. Peter’s great too. They’ll help you come up with something.” Remus insisted. “I think you could probably fix up that guest house and add another building for a hall.”

“Oh, maybe one with a bar and restaurant.” Sirius grinned.

“That would be excellent for tourism.” Remus said. “It’d be a ton of money to do it.”

Sirius shrugged, “Not to sound like a rich arsehole but I have the money. I’m not worried.”

Remus nodded, “Well, then you should do what you want with it. I know everyone who you’ve met that’s been nice to you would stand behind you 100%. I’ll help build some pieces for you.”

“That’d be wonderful. Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?”

“Sure. I thought that was a stereotype.”

Sirius laughed as Remus hopped off the edge of the rock. He landed easily then turned to reach out for Sirius. “It’s not. I spent too much time in England and my father is British, so it stuck. Plus, Singaporeans love their tea too.” Sirius hesitantly took Remus’ hand.

“Huh, didn’t know that.” Remus smiled. “It’s okay, I’ve got you.” Remus assured the other man.

With a deep breath, Sirius took the big step down. Instead of landing gracefully, Sirius misjudged it and panicked. Remus tried to catch him but he overcompensated and somehow they both ended up in the tall grass. Remus laughed as Sirius apologized a million times. The other man carefully got to his feet. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine, Sirius.”

“I’m not outdoorsy.”

“This is hardly outdoorsy but I’ll let you get away with it.” Remus stood up as well, brushing himself off. He needed to remember to check for ticks later. “Let’s go be less outdoorsy, then. I’ll take that cup of tea now.”

Sirius grinned and nodded.

The rest of his day was spent with Sirius. They had tea in Sirius’ sunroom in the back of the house, talking about random things. Remus found out that they had similar taste in music, which was nice. After they went out to look at the guest house. Remus offered Sirius some ideas about what they could do with it. The place needed a lot of new life put into it but Sirius could do it with some help. He could also build up the property and make everything amazing. It would do the world of good for Godric’s. Remus just hoped the man would stick it out.

***

Sirius sat on his front porch waiting for Remus, James, Lily, and Harry to come to pick him up on their way to Molly Weasley’s birthday. He was asked to come by nearly eight different people, three of which he only just met at the market. Sirius was happy the Potters and Remus were willing to give him a ride because he would have felt so awkward going alone. He already had dinner with the group twice now.

Really, he was ecstatic that he was going in the same car as Remus Lupin. Remus was the last thing Sirius thought that he would find here in New Hampshire. He was not looking to fall for someone. Immediately, when he saw Remus in his shop, he was attracted to him physically. Now that they had talked more and spent nearly a whole day together on Monday, Sirius was now infatuated. Of course, Remus had to see him make a fool out of himself once more by falling off the fucking rock on top of the other man and breaking something Remus made in the shop. Remus seemed to take it all in stride and didn’t give Sirius too hard of a time about it.

The idea of being Remus’ boyfriend was nice but just a fantasy. The man was most likely straight. If anyone was straight in the town, it was this strong bloke who had tattoos up one arm and a snarky little smile. Remus used power tools and drove a truck. He played rugby too. Sirius found out the other day. It was for some regional pick up team. James Potter was more likely into men. Sirius wasn’t going to go about messing anything up, anyways. He had made new friends, why go and ruin all of that? Bloody hell, why was he even thinking that way?

The Potter’s car pulled up as he was trying to vanquish the thoughts of possible love interest in Remus. Sirius got into the back of the car and nine-year old Harry was sitting in the middle, on one of his parent’s phones. He looked up and said hi to Sirius with a big smile. Sirius never thought much of kids. They were mostly annoying but he liked Harry. He was a funny thing.

“You’ll have to talk to Arthur tonight.” Remus said. He had been bothering Sirius about it since Monday. Sirius was holding back from contacting the man about doing something with the place and he wasn’t sure why. He knew what he wanted now and he knew that he could start off with just fixing up the guest house. Then he could go from there.

Maybe he wasn’t sure if he wanted to stay somewhere in the back of his mind. He loved the area he was in, it was beautiful. 97% of the people in Godric’s Hollow were great. But he still didn’t feel like he fit completely. But where did he fit? He never felt at home anywhere, even in England or Singapore. Sirius was waiting to feel some connection that he wasn’t sure he was ever going to feel.

“I will.”

“Dude, I’d check the main house first.” James said.

“Yeah, there’s got to be some wood rot going on. That porch doesn’t sound very safe.” Remus looked over at him. “I think I’d look at the roof too. I’m not sure the last time that was done.”

Sirius nodded. “Okay.”

“And you want to draw up some plans for the guest house and that possible restaurant/bar/venue building you were talking about last night.” Lily recommended. “You have a lot to get done before it’s actually time to build.”

Sirius agreed as they drove. James went onto describe the Weasley Clan. Apparently their oldest was Reggie’s age, 26. His name was Bill then Charlie was 24. They both worked with their dad at the construction company. Percy was 20 and off at Uni. Then Fred and George were 18 and both attended the university a driving distance away. Ron was 10, like Harry and they had an eight year old girl named Ginny. Sirius was amazed that these people wanted so many kids. They even had two more after so long of not having any. Molly, the mum was sister to Fabian and Gideon, who Sirius had met at the Farmer’s Market on Sundays. They were much younger than Molly. Sirius understood that she was the oldest of a gaggle of kids and Fab and Gid was the youngest.

The Weasley’s lived well past the Potter’s place. It seemed to be nestled into the side of a mountain, Sirius thought as they made their way up a narrow, winding road. They called it The Burrow, and Sirius could see why as they came down a long driveway to find a piece of somewhat flat land. There was a large house that seemed to be a patchwork of many houses. There were different color sidings and the second and third floors looked like they didn’t really belong.

Out in the yard were about as many cars are there probably were people in Godric’s. When he got out of the car and followed Remus and the Potters, Sirius recognized many of the guests from his puttering around the place. He was happy to feel a little less overwhelmed as he saw the somewhat familiar faces of Marlene, Dorcas, and Alice. Sirius was also introduced to Peter, Mary, and Frank. This was apparently the rest of this group that Remus revealed was called the “Marauders” because of some dumb high school thing. Sirius liked them all, he was glad they seemed interested in being his mate.

“Okay, you need to meet Molly and Arthur.” Remus said, wrapping a large hand around his forearm then pulling him in the direction of the back of the house. “It is her party.”

Sirius let himself be led by the other man. Soon enough he was standing in front of a plump ginger woman while a bright smile. “Oh, you must be Sirius Black! I’m so happy to meet you finally. Remus was talking about you the other day.”

What felt suspiciously like butterflies fluttered in his stomach. It shouldn’t matter that Remus was talking about him. He was just probably talking to Molly about things general. They were just new acquaintances, that was all. Sirius couldn’t let himself get swept up in a romantic what if, even if he was prone to that at times.

“It’s so nice to meet you as well.”

“You sound so proper, that’s adorable. Arthur!” Molly shouted over her shoulder and a taller red headed man came over. “Arthur, this is Sirius.”

“Monty said you were going to be in touch. Haven’t heard from you yet.” Arthur said outright.

“He’s been settling in.” Remus answered for him.

“But we could meet soon. This coming week.” Sirius said. “If that’s okay or possible. I think I want to get started soon if you’re interested.”

“Sure, we just finished working a big project a few towns over and have nothing large on the docket. I’d love to come by and go over what you want to do. We can draw up plans.”

“Start with his porch, please. The thing sounds like it’s going to break. I walked up it the other day and though my foot would go through.” Remus snorted a laugh.

“Will do, Remus.” Arthur nodded. “Call me, Sirius, okay? Monday and we’ll get going.”

Sirius nodded. It was time for him to overcome whatever it was that was holding him back. The people in Godric’s Hollow mostly liked him and it seemed like he was growing some friendships. He loved his property and was passionate about what he wanted to do with it. He wanted that small inn and restaurant and wedding venue. Sirius could close his eyes and see himself years from now in the back garden watching a wedding happen. The evergreens were swaying in the background. The leaves — golden, red, and orange — setting a perfect backdrop to a fall wedding. He could see himself being happy.

“Come on, I’ll now introduce you to Bill and Charlie.” Remus nudged him out of his little dream world.

“Lead the way.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi, recycling writer!Hope and her Charlotte Knocks books from Like a River Flows. IDK but I love these fake trashy novels that I’ve never even given too much thought to but they’re basically the Sookie Stackhouse books meets HP meets something else I haven’t decided on yet in my brain. Maybe I’ll one day write a fic where Sirius is obsessed with the books that he ends up going to some reading of Hope’s and meets Remus???

When Remus arrived at Sirius’ house almost two weeks after Molly’s birthday, he found that the old front porch was under construction. All that was left in front of Sirius’ house at the moment was a set of stairs and a makeshift railing at his front door. In front of the house was more than enough wood to build the porch along with some tools. The Prewett-Weasley crew must have finished for the day because there were no cars on the property but Sirius’ BMW. Remus was glad to see that something was happening on the property. For a week or so, when Sirius got here and nothing happened, Remus was sure that the man was having second thoughts. But now, things were changing, rather quickly it seemed.

Sirius excitedly shared his ideas the other day when he stopped by the shop on a whim. He came in just before lunch, bearing a sub from Caradoc’s shop. Remus was glad to listen to the man talk about it. It was the most Sirius had talked in the whole time Remus had been around him, it seemed. Remus wasn’t complaining about that mainly because he could listen to the man talk all day. He also liked how excited Sirius was about this all. Remus wasn’t sure when everything clicked for the other man. Maybe he finally felt like he belonged in New Hampshire and he was accepted by people here. The Potters and all the Marauder’s and their families were being very welcoming so it was about time, Remus thought.

A minute after Remus pulled in, Sirius came rushing out the front door. He was carrying a bottle of wine and wearing far too nice clothes for dinner with Remus’ mom. His mom would like it though because she thought Sirius was a ‘dashing young man’. She had been out of town to meet with her editor and do some stuff with her newest novel. Hope was the author of a semi-popular book series that had a decent cult following. Every so often it took her around the country and sometimes abroad. Remus was proud of his mom, even if he wasn’t into the books.

“Your mum doesn’t have to do this.” Sirius said, getting into the truck.

“My mom would never let you live here much longer if you didn’t go to her place for dinner. She’d kick you out of town, I think.” Remus rolled his eyes as he turned around in the driveway. “I’m surprised she let you get away with it for this long. If she didn’t go out of town, it would have been much sooner.”

“I really do appreciate being taken in by you all. I know that I would be hating my life here if it weren’t for you. I can’t imagine how boring things would be.”

“It’s what we do.” It really was what his friends and family did, he should have said. Remus was not one to open up to new people over the last few years. Even before that he was always more standoffish than everyone. That was just his personality. It felt like he was doing a fairly good job with Sirius. Something about the other man made that easy for him. Maybe it was because he sounded like honey and looked like a model? Probably. He was also kind hearted. Apparently the black cat that was wandering around town was now living at Sirius’ house on Broomhill.

In a perfect world, Remus would fall in love with Sirius. They would fall into each other’s arms one day when Sirius stopped by the shop or when Remus picked him up to cart him to a dinner or whatever. They would kiss and have sex then they would just be in a happy relationship. But Remus knew that was never going to happen. Even if Sirius were interested in him for some weird reason, Remus hadn’t dated in nearly three years. He didn’t want to date. It was a lot to think about.

Four years ago, Remus dad was diagnosed with brain cancer. Things went bad to worse in the blink of an eye. Remus was also dating Benjy at the time. They had been living in Boston at the time but when Remus’ dad decided he no longer wanted to be at Mass General, Remus traveled home with him. Benjy was going through his own mental health struggles. Remus didn’t know any of this until two weeks after his dad passed away. He went back to Boston to try to get his life back together after mourning for two weeks. Benjy was not being who Remus always saw and they had a big fight. Remus told him he needed to be back in Godric’s with his mom. So he packed up and left, leaving Ben behind.

Benjy wasn’t happy about Remus’ choice but that wasn’t the reason he killed himself, he said that much in his note. It was something that wasn’t helpful but Remus didn’t know this at the time. So, when their Boston friends went to check on Ben after Remus didn’t hear from him for a few days, they were shocked to find he had hung himself from the rafters of their loft. Remus, already trying to process the loss of his father, now had to mourn his boyfriend. Benjy was apparently struggling with depression but Remus had no idea. He felt like an idiot for never seeing any signs of the disease.

For a few months, Remus felt like he was in some sort of waking nightmare. Nothing felt right and he was just out of place wherever he was doing whatever he was doing. When summer rolled around, Remus ended up falling head over heels for this guy who was staying in town to do some historical research. They had a deeply intense fling. It was probably not the best choice Remus had made in his life. The relationship ended up with his heartbroken when the man left and went back to Oregon. So, since he left, Remus held steadily on to the fact he could never date again. But here was Sirius Black with his sharp blue eyes and wavy black hair and sweet heart.

“Are you all right?” Sirius asked as Remus pulled up to his mom’s house.

“Fine, yeah.” Remus cleared his throat. “I was thinking of, something. It’s nothing, really.”

“Okay.” Sirius nodded. “I know we’re just getting to know one another and all but I’m a very good listener. I had to listen to my brother for ages, you know?”

“Thanks but it really is nothing.” Remus smiled. He wondered almost daily about what Sirius’ life was like before moving to Godric’s. He revealed a little about himself here and there. Like his parents were rich, he protected his brother from nearly everything, and he hated his old job. Remus wondered if he could ever have enough of Sirius’ trust to learn anything more. He wondered if he could ever tell Sirius about his own painful past.

They parked in the driveway then headed inside. His mom gave both of them big hugs before ushering Sirius off to show him the house. Remus let Sirius be dragged around by his mother and he went to grab a beer from the fridge and see what she had cooked. It smelt like beef stew but she could have made that the day before. His mother loved cooking so her home always smelt like something delicious.

In the kitchen he found his beer and confirmed the beef stew by looking in the crockpot. She also had made a cake, which was sitting on the cake stand by the stove. As he took a sip of his beer, he wondered what his mother was saying to Sirius. He had a sneaking suspicion that the woman wanted him to get together with Sirius. She was always so worried Remus was going to end up alone forever. He didn’t care if he ended up alone forever. There were only a few times in his life when he wished that he had a partner.

“Your mother is H.L. Howell? She writes the Charlotte Knocks books?” Sirius asked loudly when he and Remus’ mother came into the kitchen. He looked almost disappointed with Remus.

Remus laughed, “Yes. It’s not something I go around talking about all the time.”

“I didn’t know that! I’ve read the books but I’ve never seen her.”

His mother waved a hand. “It’s just a little fun. It occupies my time.”

“They’re trashy romance novels about vampires, werewolves, and witches.” Remus laughed at Sirius.

“They are entertaining! The representation you have in your novels is amazing.” Sirius said happily. “I’ve read them all twice. The world building you’ve done, Hope, is brilliant.”

“Oh, thank you Sirius. It’s nice that someone in this room appreciates them.”

“I’m proud of you, ma.” Remus rolled his eyes. “They’re just not what I like to read.”

“I know, I’m just giving you a hard time.”

“They’re wicked awesome mom.” Remus kissed her on the cheek.

Sirius chuckled, “Sorry, you all say that so much. Wicked.”

“It’s a New England thing. I’m sure there’s a lot of things we do that you’d laugh or make some face at. Like the water fountains in public places. Those are bubblers.” Remus said as he mom went to go take care of the food.

Sirius furrowed his brow. “Why?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a thing.”

“Huh, interesting. I love learning all these local quirks.” Sirius smiled at him. “Hope, did you want a hand?”

“Oh, no thank you, hun.”

“She hates people getting under her feet.” Remus snorted a laugh. “But she used to give my dad shit and she gives me shit too about not helping in the kitchen.”

“Remus!” His mother complained half heartedly. “Don’t listen to him Sirius.”

“I won’t.” Sirius laughed.

Dinner went well. Remus was happy that his mom didn’t insinuate her hopes and dreams of Remus finding love with this guy. Sirius was more than happy to sit there for hours talking to Remus’ mom about everything (mostly her books). Remus was the bored one out of them all, which seemed unfair somehow.

“I love your mom.” Sirius said as they drove back towards Broomhill. “She’s the opposite of mine.”

Remus frowned. “Well, my mom is great. I’m sorry about yours.”

“Er, sorry, I didn’t mean to make things awkward or bring it down.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m sorry that your mom isn’t as — I don’t know…”

“Nice, sweet, caring, kind, funny — those are the words you’re looking for.” Sirius filled Remus in flatly. “I — ah… we’re mates, right?”

Remus furrowed his brow then nodded. “Yeah. I think so, at least.”

“Okay. Well, my parents were very controlling. Every moment of my life was planned out for me from birth til probably death. I was supposed to inherit the company and be filthy rich for the rest of my life.”

“It was that bad?”

“It’s not who I am. I don’t know. I always felt like I was missing something.”

“Does it feel like that anymore? That you’re missing something?” Remus glanced over at Sirius who was looking a little vulnerable.

“No, I feel good here. I don’t know why. It’s completely different from everything I’ve ever known. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m actually in control here.”

“That’s good then, right?”

“I think so. I am sorry to bring the mood down.” Sirius scoffed.

“Don’t worry. You saw my baby pictures, so our friendship is moving right along.” Remus smiled over at his new friend quickly.

“Can I ask about your dad? Your mum mentioned him quite a bit and I saw his photos…”

“He passed away a few years back. Cancer.”

“Sorry.”

“I would say it’s fine but it’s not but it’s getting better.” Remus turned on to Broomhill. Sirius’ large looming home came into clear view. “He was wicked smart. You would have found him either boring or interesting. He taught at the college. Classics.”

“I’m sure he was interesting. If he was anything like you or your mum, I’m sure.”

Remus grinned, unsure of what to say as he parked the truck. “I’ll see you at Marlene and Dorcas’ tomorrow.” They were having a bonfire, probably the last before it got too cold.

“Sure. Er, where is their place?”

“The opposite end of Holderness. Like on the other side of the Hollow.” He waved a hand trying to explain. “I can pick you up if you want. It’s easier than explaining.”

“I feel like you’re always carting me around.”

“It’s fine, really. You don’t know everything yet. Once you do, then I’ll make you drive.” Remus snickered.

“That sounds good.” Sirius nodded. “Text me when you’re on your way.”

“I will do.”

They said their goodbye before Sirius got out of the truck and headed into his house. Remus watched him open his door, turn, and give a little wave. Sirius was pretty adorable.

***

Once again, Sirius was getting out of Remus Lupin’s truck and arriving at a new house. Marlene and Dorcas lived close to the main street of Godric’s. Apparently Remus’ house was right next door. Sirius probably could have walked from Broomhill if he really wanted to but he was glad to spend the time with Remus. He hated that his crush kept growing stronger as time went on. Sirius hoped that it would just stop and go away if he tried to treat things as if the crush didn’t matter. As if it was all just circumstance.

As Sirius closed the door of the truck, he could smell the smokiness of wood burning. He found the smell comforting but he could feel a chill in the air. Sirius thought he should have brought more than just his light jacket as he followed Remus out to the back garden of Dorcas and Marlene’s home. Alice, Frank, Lily, James, Marlene, Dorcas, Mary, Peter, Fabian, Gideon, Bill, and Charlie were all sitting around the fire holding drinks and laughing and talking loudly. He was apparently supposed to be meeting their other friend Fleur but she was still stuck up in Montreal with her family for some family emergency.

Sirius liked all these new found friends. That was the main reason he didn’t want to fancy Remus. He didn’t want to ruin his friendship with these people. They were all so different than anyone he ever knew and that was a good thing. There was little bullshit and he always knew where he stood. A few of them were rich, like the Potters and Hope must have had some money from her books, but you’d never know. They weren’t elite like he was used to. Everyone always seemed so happy to see him when he ran into them out in town or went to a dinner or something.

After having a beer and being force fed two s’mores, Sirius was beginning to feel like he was going to turn into an icicle. He was talking to Marlene and Lily, trying his best to take his mind off of the cold. No one else seemed bothered. Fabian was in short selves and Marlene was wearing sandals for god sake. Sirius looked like the only frozen one.

“Here,” Remus’ voice startled him to his right after Lily had just told Sirius about the time the boys filled the principal’s office with bubbles in high school.

Sirius looked over to see him holding out the blue and green checked flannel overshirt he had had been wearing. “What?”

“Take it. I can tell your freezing your balls off. It’s nice and warm.” He shoved it at him more.

“Remus cares greatly about other people’s balls.” Marlene deadpanned and Sirius wasn’t sure what to do with that. Did that mean he was gay? Or was she taking the piss?

“Oh, ah, right, are you sure?”

“I’m fine.” Remus shrugged, still holding out his shirt. The grey and black henley he had on was unbuttoned, revealing just enough of his collarbone. “Honestly. It’s warm.”

“Right, warm. It’s sodding cold here.” Sirius laughed.

“It is warm to us, Sirius. I’m sure you’re not accumulated yet. I remember when my cousin moved down to Florida for a few years then the first summer he came back here, he couldn’t believe he used to live in this. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it eventually. But take Moony’s shirt now. We don’t want you cold and uncomfortable.”

“Okay, but only if I get to hear with this nickname comes from.” Sirius said. He had heard the group call Remus Moony along with James being called Prongs and Peter Wormtail over his short time in the Hollow.

“Fine,” Remus rolled his eyes, tossing the shirt at him. “Freshman year I mooned our rival football team. Got away with it somehow. But the nickname stuck amongst friends.”

Sirius couldn’t help the laugh that escaped.

“I know. But Prongs stabbed Snape, that dumb motherfucker, in the hand once with a plastic fork when he tried to take something off of James’ lunch tray. Peter had a bad fucking rat tail when he was little. So, Prongs and Wormy.”

“And you all called yourselves the Marauder’s?” Sirius had heard this a few times but didn’t know the origin of the name.

“It was their pranking group name. Something about being adventurous.” Lily shook her head. “James is really lucky that I ever gave him a chance.”

“I’m sure he is.” Sirius said, taking off his jacket to put on the flannel then put his jacket over it. He tried not to take a deep breath in as he did so but all he could smell was the constant wood scent that clung to the other man with a hint of lemon. The flannel was nice and warm. “My last boyfriend had this terrible nickname for me.” Sirius said, not thinking. He hadn’t ever casually came out like that before.

“What was it?” Marlene’s blue eyes widened with curiosity. Of course she wouldn’t care, she was a lesbian. But he worried about Remus. But he was friends with her… right?

“Canis.”

“That’s dumb.” Remus scoffed. “It’s not, I don’t know, it doesn’t fit.”

“What does then?” Sirius challenged, glad this wasn’t an issue.

“I’ll think about it.”

Marlene looked thoughtful for a moment, “You know our little group has the L, the G, and the B now.”

Sirius gave her a confused look. If he was G and she and Dorcas were the L, “Who’s the B?”

“Hi, your friendly neighborhood bisexual here.” Remus snickered.

Something that felt hopeful blossomed inside Sirius’ chest as Remus smiled. He almost wanted Remus to be straight because he didn’t want that hope. He didn’t want to feel like he could possibly have a chance with the man.

“It’s great. We’re a small town in the middle of nowhere New Hampshire. We weren’t far out in high school but there was a little bullying and some people around here suck but it’s mostly all right. Last year some college came up to do a drag show at the town rec center. It was great.” Marlene explained.

“That’s fantastic. I, ah, I wasn’t out back home. So…”

“Well, thank you for being comfortable enough to tell us.”

Sirius didn’t want to say that he just let it slip. It did feel good though. “You’re all, I don’t know. You’re so nice and kind. It feels good to be here.”

“Good because we like you too.” Lily threw an arm over his shoulders. “You’re not allowed to leave now. You’re a Marauder for good.”

“With a pending nickname.” Remus smiled, his dimples showing.

It felt good to feel like he was home.


	7. Chapter 7

October rolled in, bringing with it heavy rain but the most brilliant reds and oranges and golds on the trees Sirius had ever seen. Sometimes he would stand in his back garden looking out over the mountains not too far in the distance. It was almost as if some master painter went out with his brush to paint the scene. He was sure that pictures could never do the place justice when he sent some snaps to Tonks and Andi. He thought about sending one to Regulus but he hadn’t heard from his brother since before he left England over two months ago now. Sirius was not sure how to feel about that. Maybe Regulus was letting himself be brainwashed by the family now. Maybe he went to the conversion therapy he had debated about doing once and Sirius talked him out of it. He hoped not but there was little he could do.

The scene in and around Sirius’ house was one of repair. Bill, Charlie, and Peter were around his house nearly every day doing one thing or another. They had finished his porch the other week and now it didn’t creak under his feet when he walked on it. They even installed a fancy cat door that only opened for the collar he put on his accidentally adopted cat. The black feline had just shown up to his house and he fed it a few times. Then it somehow got in and the rest is history. He wasn’t sure what to call it so Cat was what he stuck with for now.

Outside of the new porch, Sirius’ attic and basement were getting some love and attention. They were also working in the front room, getting rid of the check-in desk. He was told the laundry list of things he needed to do to the house after an inspection and gave Arthur and his company free reign to do what needed to be done. Sirius wanted his house to be safe before he took care of the rotting guest house. That construction needed to probably wait until the spring, as did the work in the back garden, which was overgrown and in desperate need of a weeding.

But he wasn’t spending the day on his property today. Lily, James, Marlene, Dorcas, Marlene, Dorcas, Frank, and Alice had invited him to the Nottingham Fair. It was some type of fall festival that drew big crowds about a half hour south of Godric’s. They didn’t go every year but thought it would be something for Sirius since he had never experienced the fair. There were supposedly rides, lots of food, and some exhibitions with animals and farming things.

On the ride down he went with Remus, James, and Lily. He and Remus were in the back. Harry had gone in Frank and Alice’s SUV with the others because their boy Neville was going as well.

“It’s been getting cold at night.” Remus commented, looking over at Sirius. “Have you frozen yet?”

Sirius snorted a laugh. Since the man gave him his flannel to wear at the bonfire, he had been giving Sirius a hard time. “I’m fine, thank you.”

“You really are going to need some snow things. Your wardrobe is alright for fall but it’s going to get wicked cold soon enough. We’re two weeks into October, we could get our first snow any day.”

“Any day?” Sirius said, shocked. “I thought it didn’t snow until December.” He suddenly felt like he had so much to do in order to prepare for it. He didn’t even have proper boots yet.

The rest of the car laughed loudly.

“I mean, it’s possible but usually we have our first accumulation in November. We’ll get a nice dusting before that.” James said between loud laughs.

Sirius made a face, “Shite.”

“It’s okay, we’ll get you some good boots and a nice heavy jacket.”

“Gloves. Sweaters.”

“I have sweaters. I’m wearing one today.” He ran his hand over the purple cashmere sweater he was wearing under a leather jacket.

“Thick, wool ones. You’ll need it. I know you’ll be cold.” Remus said. “And wool socks. Plus, like good boot socks.”

“He’ll probably need hand warmers too.” Lily pointed out.

“We should get his car winterized. Get the good tires.” James said.

Sirius wasn’t sure what to say but he trusted his mates. He spent so much time with these three. Sirius was sure he had never had been so close to people in such a short amount of time. The Potters, both the younger and older, had adopted him as their own. They worried and fed him. Sirius knew if he needed anything, he could go to them.

“Kinglsey can do that at the shop.” Remus agreed with his friends. “We’ll get you an appointment.”

“Thanks.” He smiled over at the other man.

“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you survive. Even if I have to give you all of my flannels.”

Sirius felt himself blush, he hated that he did. “You can keep the flannels. I don’t think they’re my style.”

“I don’t know, it suited you fine.” Remus said.

Sirius “forgot” to give Remus his shirt back for a couple of weeks. In reality, he mucked around the house with it. It was warm, comfortable, and smelt like Remus. The shirt was a bit too big for him but he didn’t mind that. It was probably a bit creepy that he had done that and he did not plan on telling anyone about it. Remus got his flannel back and only joked about the fact that Sirius was always cold.

It didn’t take them much longer to get to Nottingham. They parked in what seemed like empty cornfields and walked through some mud to get to the main grounds, which were packed with people. They met with the rest of their group at the gates and they all began to tell Sirius about everything he needed to do and what he had to try. Sirius was excited to go in and experience it all.

When they got in, they showed him the old school house, sugar house, and farm museum. Sirius thought it was all very quaint. It was surprised at how preserved things were with the amount of people that seemed to be walking through the area.

After they went towards the carnival rides because the kids wanted to go on them. Sirius thought they looked as if they were going to fall apart but Remus dragged him on one that spun in circles. He didn’t mind it too much because he got to be pressed up against Remus the whole time… even if it made him incredibly dizzy. He nearly fell out of the cart when he went to get out and Remus had to catch him for what felt like the millionth time. Since when was he so sodding clumsy?

As the kids went on more rides, James, Lily, Alice, and Frank stayed behind to make sure they didn’t get lost. Remus, Marlene, and Dorcas took Sirius to look at the livestock. It smelt horrible but it wasn’t so bad because he did live downwind from the MacDonald’s farm. He was somewhat used to it now.

“Sirius, you should milk a cow!” Marlene pointed to a sign that said “milking parlor” in front of a white building. They were near the cattle and oxen. They had already seen poultry, swine, and other barnyard animals. Sirius wanted to laugh because never in his life did he think they would be doing this. This was nothing like anything he had ever done or seen. It was truly American. He loved it.

But he was not milking a cow. “No thanks.”

“Let’s get food. Alice just texted me they’re getting ice cream.”

“Ice cream! It’s cold out.” Sirius furrowed his brow.

“It is not cold out.” Remus shook his head. “I have my gloves in the pocket of the coat I think. You can use them.”

“It is cold. You’re all just some cold weather beings and I’m not there yet.”

“Whatever, cold or hot, the weather is always right for ice cream.” Dorcas shrugged a shoulder as they walked through the crowds. “I want a chocolate vanilla twist with jimmies.”

“What the hell are jimmies?” Sirius raised an eyebrow. This place could be pretty strange sometimes.

“They’re sprinkles. You know, the little sugar coated things you put on ice cream.”

“It’s a racist term.” Marlene said knowingly.

“It is not.” Dorcas countered. “That’s an old wives tale.”

“I don’t know, I’ve heard both. I think if you call the brown ones jimmies then it’s racist. I think we should be safe and call them sprinkles.”

Sirius’ head spun a little. How could something you put on ice cream be racist? He wasn’t sure he wanted to ask so he decided to stick with calling the things sprinkles.

“Anyway, Sirius, you have to try as much food as you can. All the good down home American stuff.” Remus said.

“Plus anything with apple or maple.” Dorcas insisted. He decided to listen to his friends. They hadn’t lied to him once about anything. Plus, as he walked through the stalls everything smelled delicious. He wasn’t sure where he should start.

In the end, Sirius was now obsessed with kettle corn, maple candies, and apple crisp. He also had a stomach ache from eating so much.

***

As it grew dark at the Nottingham Fair, Sirius was laughing at the idea of a tractor pull. Remus didn’t blame him. He thought it was the one of the most hick things he had to experience. They had already seen the horse show, which Sirius liked and Remus didn’t mind it either. Harry and Neville were into the tractor pull, as were Marlene and Dorcas. Frank, Alice, Lily, and James were all talking and laughing.

“There’s music.” Remus said to Sirius, hoping the man would be interested in doing something else for a little while. “I think it’s this girl who I’ve heard before. She’s really good. Reminds me a bit of First Aid Kit, if you’ve heard them.”

“I haven’t but I like music.” Sirius smiled at him. “I’m sure I’ll like it more than this.”

“Thank god because I hate this.”

Remus informed everyone they were going to see Celestina Warbeck. No one else was interested, so Sirius and Remus went off in the direction of the little area of the fair called Relaxation Grove. Remus generally disliked the fair. It was tacky and filled with too many people but he did enjoy some of the aspects. One being the music and the other the food. Though, he did enjoy watching Sirius experience it all for the first time.

They walked and talked about their day. Sirius sounded so excited about everything. Remus noticed since the bonfire, Sirius had become more and more outgoing. Remus wondered if the man was finally able to see that he can be who he wanted around the Marauders. Sirius was funny and pretty freaking adorable. He was also confident in a way that Remus didn’t see right away. Clearly, distancing himself from his family was doing the best for him.

“We can sit here.” Sirius pointed a spot against a tree that was free. It was in view of the stage where Celestina was playing. He beautiful voice was drifting over the crowd.

“Good pick.” Remus sat down and Sirius sat next to him. “So, how is New Hampshire treating you?”

“Better than I could imagine. Not that I really imagined. I just went for it.”

“How exactly did that happen?” Remus felt as if they were now good enough friends he could ask this. “Why here and how?”

“I’ve been waiting for one of you to ask. When I got lunch with James the other day he danced around asking.” Sirius laughed. He and James had grown close over the last few weeks. Remus was very happy about that. Sirius seemed like he needed close friends.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s alright. You know my parents were shite, right? I told you that much. They were abusive and I spent my entire life protecting my brother.” Sirius spoke quietly moving closer to Remus so he didn’t have to speak too loudly.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, it’s nothing you did. I had a rough time mentally for a while and I’ve wanted to get out for ages but all my money was my parents.”

“Ah, yeah. That seems like it’d be a problem.” Remus nodded, not sure what to say.

“It really was. So, the day it all changed I was literally at my desk thinking how nice it would be to leave and try to be happy elsewhere. Then my good cousin, Andi, she called telling me about Uncle Al’s will. She asked me to come out to England to go over. It was like a sign that it was time to go. So, I sent a fuck off email to my parents and went to London. I found out about the place on Broomhill and felt like that was where I needed to go. Plus, my parents have no idea about it. If I stayed in London they would have tracked me down. I’m very much free out here.”

Remus was glad to have the full story now and not just the bits and pieces. “Thank you for telling me that.”

“No worries, Moony.” Sirius smiled. He loved using Remus’ nickname. He had got in the habit of doing it. “Where’s my nickname?”

“It hasn’t come to me yet.” Remus waved a hadn’t in front of him. “I’m working on it.”

“I want something good.”

“I’m trying.”

They sat and enjoyed the show sitting close to one another. Sirius had a sweet smile on his face the whole time. Remus couldn’t blame him. Celestina was wonderful, and he was sure that she was going to break out soon enough. He would be sad that he wouldn’t see her play at these small things any longer.

As her set came to an end, Remus got a text to meet the group at the ferris wheel. Whenever they came, they tried to get on the ferris wheel right when the fireworks started. He explained that to Sirius as they began to make their way over to the rides. Sirius looked somewhat nervous. Remus remembered him saying that he didn’t like heights before he fell off the rock on the hill.

“You don’t have to go on.”

“No, I want to. I want to see what it looks like.” Sirius said then bit his lip.

“I’ll hold your hand.” Remus said then wished he could take it back.

Sirius grinned, “Thank you but I should be okay. I think.”

“Do you need my gloves?” Remus teased. Sirius looked like he wanted them when they got ice cream earlier in the day. The other man only got a small one and looked as if his teeth were chattering. It wasn’t that cold out. It was like 50 something. That was nice.

“Very funny, Lupin. I’m fine.” Sirius pretended to glare at him. “I’ll think about taking your flannel though. It was rather cozy.”

“Like I said, we’ll get you some of your own. We can go to the outlets a few towns away.” Remus said as they got to the ride. “We’ll plan it out.”

“Over here, guys!” Remus heard Lily shout.

“How was Celestina?” Frank asked. “Have you asked her on a date?”

Remus rolled his eyes. “I appreciate her music.”

“You appreciate her something.” James muttered and Lily whacked him in the shoulder and looked to Harry and Neville. Neither of the boys were paying any attention. They were too busy looking up at the ferris wheel and having their own conversation.

“I don’t. Not interested in dating.” Remus said as they moved a few steps up in line.

“I bet she’d date you. You’re an established artisan. You could be a very bohemian couple.” Alice laughed.

Remus shook his head. He didn’t say anything, and thankfully his friends moved on to a new topic. It didn’t take them too long to get to the front of the line. James and Lily got on first, then the boys, and then Alice and Frank. Marlene looked back at Remus and winked as she went to get on with Dorcas. It wasn’t as if they schemed to do this. Of course he was going to have to sit with Sirius. What other choice was there. He just wasn’t a fan of how romantic it suddenly seemed.

The operator closed the bar across the carriage then the ride started. Slowly, they made their way up. As they did the first fireworks cracked and popped. Next to him Sirius was chewing on his lip. Remus sighed then reached over for his hand. Sirius looked at him in surprise.

“I said I’d hold your hand.” Remus spoke as the ride came to a stop halfway up to let some riders on.

“Thanks.” Sirius sighed as a few blue and red fireworks lit up the sky. “It is nice. Though, I would rather my feet on the ground.”

Remus laughed as the ferris wheel began to climb higher. The fireworks grew louder and more frequent. He held on to Sirius’ hand as they rode. On the second time around the stopped at the very top.

“Isn’t this the part of the movie where the love interests kiss and the movie ends?” Sirius laughed nervously.

“Yes, it is but I’m not very into romantic comedies so you’re lucking out.” Remus shook his head. That was a lie, he loved rom-coms.

“You really don’t date?” Sirius asked, looking over at him now.

“No. I —”

“You don’t have to tell me your secrets just because I told you mine.” Sirius assured him.

Remus wasn’t planning on it. “Well, I just don’t date for reasons that I’ll share at some point. Plus, my dating pool is very small. I need to go out of town for dates.”

“Yeah, I’m sure there’s not much chance in Godric’s.”

“I ran out of people to date in Godric’s years ago.” Remus snickered.

That wasn’t exactly true. There was now Sirius, who was sitting next to him holding tight on to his hand. But that was something he wasn’t sure that he could do, no matter how wonderful he found Sirius.


	8. Chapter 8

“You could be cop,” James held up a bagged costume.

Sirius was out at the local mall with Marlene and James on a rainy Sunday trying to find something to wear for next weekend’s Halloween party. He had never been to a Halloween party. He was sure an American one would be lots of fun with plenty of sweets and alcohol. The party he was going to go to was being held at Marlene and Dorcas’ house with all the people that he had become mates over the last nearly two months. He was very much looking forward to it.

James and Marlene declared that they would help him pick his costume because they had the best fashion sense. Sirius disagreed (Lily and Remus were the best dressed in his eyes) but he went with them anyway. He had never been to an American mall so he was interested in seeing what it was like. Sirius didn’t find it too interesting but it lived up to his Typical American Image that he had constructed in his brain.

The shop that they were in sold only Halloween things then after it turned into a Christmas shop according to James and Marlene. Currently, at the front of the store were some Halloween decorations but as they went further in they found the walls full of costumes stuffed into these horrid plastic bags. Sirius had no idea how to go about choosing one from the wall because he wasn’t sure what he wanted to look like. He assumed the more tacky or ridiculous the better. He decided that Marlene would be the best at picking the costume because James was someone who changed his mind a million times. He was sure that Lily had told James what he was wearing a few weeks back because the man couldn’t decide.

“No, no cops.” Marlene made a face. “We could do homemade. Oh! You could do a couples costume with Remus. That would be adorable, I think.”

James let out a sharp laugh. Sirius knew that Marlene was trying to get Sirius to be with Remus. James seemed to be in on that. The way she talked and looked at the two gave it all away, especially after Sirius had outed himself.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. “What the bloody hell was that laugh?”

“Oh, nothing, just Marlene is as subtle as a fucking swinging brick.” James shook his head, picking up another costume. It looked like a cheap doctor one.

Sirius looked between the two. He was trying to get to what the two were trying to say without saying. “You think he fancies me? Or that I fancy him? I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

“No, that’s not even it. Never mind.” James shook his head.

“You can’t say something like that then say never mind.” Sirius wanted to know more about what they were thinking. He understand where everyone around him stood on the idea of him and Remus.

“Remus never dates.”

Sirius knew that. He had that conversation with Remus at the fair the other week. While the man was holding his sodding hand on a ferris wheel with fireworks going off in front of them. If Remus had any sort of romantic feelings for Sirius, that would have been the perfect time to come out with it. Or even to just kiss Sirius and plant the seed. Remus did nothing expect hold his hand and joke about the cold and Sirius’ fear of heights after talking about not dating. “I know. He told me.”

“Right, so, he’s been lonely. I can tell he has, even if he denies it.” James said. “And then you came along and I thought, great someone new for Remus!”

“So, you only think of me as someone for your mate to shag?” Sirius joked, he knew that James didn’t actually feel that way. They had grown close lately. He could tell there was no ulterior motive. He had dealt with ulterior motives his whole life from not only his so-called friends but his family. James was just trying make his mates happy, he was sure. That didn’t stop Sirius wanting to give him hard time.

“No! No! I swear that I’m not doing that. I’m so happy to have you as a friend.”

“I know, I’m giving you shite because it’s fun.”

“It’s just that I’ve been hoping that you and Remus would kindle something else other than this great friendship you’ve got going on.” James shrugged one shoulder.

“I’ve been thinking it since we met.” Marlene grinned. “Okay, maybe before we met.”

Sirius thought back to meeting the woman. He remembered how he assumed she was flirting then she got excited that he was going to see Remus. Sirius thought it had something to do with being an out of towner. He obviously read that situation wrong if she was hoping to set Remus up so fast. “Remus is brilliant and all but—”

“I’m not saying you need to date him. I just wanted you to know that Remus doesn’t date. So, if you were interested dating Remus might take a while for him to come around to the idea. Don’t give up if you wanted to date him. But don’t be weird about your persistence.” James explained.

“You’re really telling me this right now?” Sirius wasn’t sure what to say. He was interested in Remus but he was nervous about going down that path. Mainly because he didn’t want to ruin his friendships with his new mates. But they were apparently cheering Remus on to go on a date? Not only go on a date, but go on one with Sirius. “I don’t want to date Remus.”

James’ face fell. “Are you sure?”

Sirius let out a sharp laugh. “Yes.”

Marlene hummed. “Okay.”

“You don’t believe me.” Sirius rolled his eyes. “I’m not looking to be with anyone at the moment. I up and moved my whole life to a new country. I have all these brand new friends. I’m starting a brand new career. Even my house is in a state of settling with the work they’re doing. I’m going through a lot of resettling right now. I don’t think it’s the right time for a boyfriend.””

“So, it’s not an all out rejection of Moony.” James said eagerly.

“James…” Sirius sighed loudly. “Can we just pick out a costume for me?”

“Fine, fine.” James shook his head, moving back to the wall of costumes.

Thankfully they stopped talking about dating Remus but it made Sirius wonder about how Remus was feeling about him. Did the other man fancy Sirius? Was this just wishful thinking from Remus’ mates because they didn’t want him alone?

In the end, Sirius choose the Robin Hood costume to wear to the party. Sirius was happy that the days in between passed quickly because he was looking forward to his first proper American Halloween party. He had seen enough on telly and online to know what to expect: Candy, bad costumes, and alcohol. Sirius was excited.

It wasn’t Halloween night because that would come on Wednesday of the following week, but as Sirius walked from his place on Broomhill to Marlene and Dorcas’ house, he felt something exciting in the air. It was as if the whole Hollow was celebrating that night. He passed a few parties at houses decked out to the nines. There were ghosts hanging in trees, fake tombstones, fake spider webs, and orange and purple lights everywhere. Some houses looked far more elaborate than others.

Remus’ cute peachy house had a minimal look compared to the house next door. Remus had stung up lights around the railings and stretched out fake spider webs between the railing and top of his porch. He also had an old broom leaning against the railing at the bottom of his steps as if a witch had just left it there. Sirius thought it fitting and very Remus. Unassuming but eye catching. Simple but inviting.

Sirius sighed loudly to himself as he walked by the house slowly, thinking about Remus. He could see the cars lining the streets in front of Dorcas and Marlene’s up the street. Sirius loved Remus’ house. He had been in it a few times now. It was cozy and homey in a way that Sirius’ wasn’t just yet. He wanted to know how to make his own home feel like that.

“Hey! I thought that was you. Nice Robin Hood look.” Remus’ voice startled him as the door to Remus’ house closed quickly.

Sirius stopped in his tracks so the man could catch up. Remus was wearing a pair of fuzzy ears with drawn on whiskers. He was carrying a tray of candied apples with a bottle tucked under his arm. “Your costume is very minimal.”

“I’m a mid-transition werewolf.” Remus laughed as Sirius went to take the bottle so it wouldn’t drop and break.

“That seems boring.”

“I’m not one for Halloween but I do my best to have fun with it.” Remus informed him as they began to walk. “Growing up a hated people in masks so it really put me off on the whole holiday.”

“Ah, I see. Do masks still scare you?”

“No, Robin, masks do not scare me any longer.” Remus laughed.

“So, you make candied applies?”

“Mom did. She has for every halloween party I’ve ever gone to and will probably never stop. If by some miracle I ever give her a grandkid then they will get candied apples too when they go to Halloween parties. Are you excited? It’s your first Halloween party, right?”

“I am excited.” Sirius said as they reached the first few cars on the street. “First time for everything. I’ve been doing a lot of firsts here.”

“Don’t worry. It’s not like the fair. There won’t be live animals and Marlene won’t bug you about trying to milk something.”

They walked the rest of the way to Marlene and Dorcas’ laughing about the time James and Peter managed to get stuck up a tree during a prank. The fire department had to come get them down. By the time they got into the house, Sirius could barely breathe from laughing.

The night was already off to a very good start.

***

Remus probably had a bit too much to drink. He generally controlled himself most nights but he felt like he needed to let loose tonight. For some reason, over the last few weeks, he’s felt a bit frustrated. It was this nagging feeling that something was off. He couldn’t put his finger on what was going on and it was driving him insane. Or barmy, as Sirius would say. Remus liked his slang and was starting to use it in his head every so often. But that wasn’t what was causing him to feel strange. He liked the slang.

The party was going fairly well. All the usual suspects were there, all the Marauders and a few others. The place was packed to the brim. Marlene and Dorcas had cleared out the living room enough for people to dance. The kitchen and dinning room was full of food and alcohol. People were having a good time. One of those people was Remus himself. Who was currently dancing with Sirius.

Sirius had sampled nearly every single food in the kitchen. Remus wasn’t sure how the man was still standing. He was full just thinking about it. Sirius seemed obsessed with the maple candies Mary had made. He had asked her for the recipe as if he was going to make it. Well, he may make it. Remus wasn’t sure if the man was a good cook or not.

Knowing how to cook or not had nothing to do with dancing though. Sirius certainly knew how to dance. Remus couldn’t help but watch the other man’s hips move to the song. Then when he spun around Remus laughed as how happy he was. Remus, who was trying very hard to keep his hands to himself. He wondered if Sirius saw how much he had opened up and grew in the time that he had been in Godric’s. He was so much more free now.

“I need a fag.” Sirius said, wiping a hand across his forehead.

“I’ll come with you.” Remus nodded. He only smoke when he drank a lot and he was craving a cigarette. Being a lone in the cool night with Sirius also seemed like a good idea too at the moment.

The house was so loud and stuffy, that Remus let out an actual sigh of relief when they got outside. His ears were ringing as they adjusted to the calm night. “Damn, it feels good out here. Are you too cold?”

“Bugger off.” Sirius muttered, fishing his cigarettes out of the little Robin Hood satchel that he was wearing.

Remus leaned against the railing of Marlene and Dorcas’ house. He took a deep breath in, enjoying the crispness of the air. He could almost smell winter coming.

“Here.” Sirius handed him a cigarette.

Remus accepted the Sirius went to light his own cigarette. He moved close to Remus, cupping his hand around the flame to light Remus’. “Bloody wind.” Sirius muttered as he struggled to light it.

Once the cigarettes were lit, they stood quietly for awhile. Remus eventually bumped his shoulder into Sirius’ and grinned. “You like it here?”

“I do. It’s different. So different from anywhere. For instance, Kingsley and I are the only non-white people in the area.”

“Yeah, that’s New Hampshire.” Remus rolled his eyes at his states diversity. “That’s actually more diversity than most towns around here.”

Sirius snickered. “Well, no one’s been outwardly racist to me. I haven’t felt anyone treat me differently other than Snape and those couple of morons.”

“Though Snape did put up a fucking Confederate flag.” The prejudice asshole.

“Outside of Snape and the other asshole townies, it’s great. I love it here. It’s exactly what I wanted when I left home. It’s quiet and I can think. And breath. And just live.” Sirius smiled.

“You look so happy.” Remus said before taking a drag of his cigarette. “I can see the difference.”

“I didn’t think I could be happy for a while.” Sirius leaned into Remus a little. “I really thought I’d be living that horrible life forever.”

“You’re not now. You’re free.”

“And happy. Truly happy.” Sirius grinned at him, his eyes crinkling in the corners. Remus had the sudden urge to kiss him. Sure, Remus thought that hooking up with Sirius would be nice. He was handsome — beautiful — but this was different. He wanted to kiss him because he was just, happy? Remus wasn’t even positive if that right. But it didn’t have to do with sexual attraction. “What’s wrong?” Sirius frowned.

“Huh? Nothing.” He ducked his head for a moment. This wasn’t good. This was very very bad. The last time he wanted to kiss someone just to kiss them was with Nathan, the historian who was in town for that summer Remus was trying to heal. Since that heart break, he swore he would never feel like that again. But now those feelings were creeping in. They had been since he met Sirius but now he had to face the truth. “Come on, finish your cigarette. Let’s see what James is up to.”

“Sounds good.” Sirius smiled around his cigarette.

***

The next morning, Remus woke up to the smell of bacon and maple syrup. He forgot for a moment that James and Lily had stayed the night. They had both been far too drunk to drive home so they crashed in Remus’ guest bedroom. Harry had stayed the night at Effie and Monty’s with a few of the other kiddos. Remus didn’t mind because whenever they were over for the night, they made breakfast the next morning.

As he pushed himself out of bed, he grabbed his sweatshirt that he kept on the other side of his mattress because there was a chill in the air this time of year. He was going to have to turn the heat up or start the fire. His mind couldn’t stay on the heat for too long because soon it drifted to Sirius Black and how he smiled at Remus last night. How Sirius would look all curled up under Remus’ comforter complaining about the cold while Remus went off to make breakfast…

Remus groaned as he reached the last step. He was so hungover and couldn’t spend too long thinking about Sirius. If he did then it would just give him even more of a headache. Why did Remus have to meet Sirius? This man was from the other side of the world and just happened to end up in a teeny tiny town in New Hampshire. What the the odds? It felt too much like fate the more Remus thought about it and the more he didn’t like the feeling. It was scary.

“You’re that hungover? God the look on your face.” James said as Remus entered the small kitchen. Lily was perched on the edge of the butcher block counter. James was standing by the stove watching the pancakes and bacon.

Remus frowned, was he really so expressive? “It’s nothing.”

“Moony, you can lie to a lot of people and probably get away with it but not us.” Lily shook her head. “Fess up.”

He sat down on the high chair near Lily. “Promise to not make a big thing?”

“Sure.” James shrugged. “Nothing leaves this house.”

“I wanted to kiss Sirius last night.” Remus looked down at his hands. “Not because he’s hot. He is hot but, I don’t know. I just — he was so happy and I wanted to kiss him because of it.”

Lily and James didn’t say anything for a moment, but they exchanged knowing looks.

“I know you’re going to tell me to date him. You’ve wanted that since we met him the other month.” Remus spoke quickly to cut off anything the couple might say.

“Do what you want to do, man.” James held up his hands. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know.” Remus rubbed his forehead. “I really don’t want to date anyone. I think I just have a freaking crush on him like an idiot teenager. I’m thirty. This is insane, right?”

“You’ve sort of closed yourself off for the last three-ish years. You haven’t even traveled much outside of Godric’s, so it’s not as if you could meet any new potential mates.”

“Then enter Sirius Black. Stage left.”

“Yep.” Lily reached across the counter and patted his hand. “Do what you want to do, Re. You’re the one who has to decide if they went to put themselves out there or not. I can’t tell you a thing.”

Remus put his head on the counter with a groan. He didn’t want to end up heartbroken again. At the same time, somewhere deep inside of him, he was craving to have the deep connection with someone in his life. He was missing what it was like to be loved and to love.

“It will be okay Moony, whatever happens we’ll be here for you.” James said. It sounded like he was beginning to take the bacon off the griddle. “Now, let’s eat up and get rid of our hangover’s, hmm?”

Remus didn’t want to protest so he sat back up straight. He was going to have to figure out what he wanted to do. There was still a lot he didn’t know about Sirius but he knew enough to understand the man’s life wasn’t as easy as people would assume for some one like him. He also knew Sirius was kind hearted, sexy, funny, and somewhat clumsy. None of that was going to help him decide what Remus thought was right for himself.


	9. Chapter 9

Before coming to New Hampshire and uprooting his whole life, Sirius would have said that turning 31 was going to be horribly boring. Every year there was a party for him thrown by some insignificant family member or person who pretended to be his friend. Every year he would go and even though the party was for him, there was something going on that seemed to matter more. That something else being some business deal or some drama in their elite circle. Sirius always hated his birthday. He only accidentally let it slip to the Potters and Lupins at Friday dinner last night because the topic was birthdays since Hope’s was coming up soon as well. They were rather angry with him for not saying anything sooner. Sirius didn’t see the big deal but they did. Apparently friends told each other these things.

None of that mattered to him as he logged on to his MacBook to check his emails. It was now over two months since Sirius arrived in New Hampshire. At first things were rocky and he wasn’t sure if he fit in but then he was taken into to the arms of these wonderful people who made him feel at home even if he was in a completely strange, barmy place. He genuinely loved it in New Hampshire. He loved it in Godric’s Hollow. He loved he could wake up every morning and look at the mountains. He loved watching the clouds engulf them or how the fog settled over the lake and ponds in the mornings. He loved his new mates. He loved all the weird, quirky things about the Hollow and the people in it. But he missed his brother dearly. That was the only part of his old life that mattered to him.

Sirius did a good job of putting it out of his head for so long because he had so much happening. He acted as if it didn’t matter and Reggie would contact him if he really wanted to. Deep down, he was desperately missing his brother more every day. Sirius was sure the man was beating himself and letting his parents go on and on about Sirius being a terrible influence. Sirius just hoped that Regulus was staying strong. He wanted to reach out but he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear what his brother would have to say if he did. At the same time, he was dying to know what he had to say. He hated the double sided sword of it all.

Of course his inbox was empty. The only people who got in touch with him were Ted, Andi, and Nym. They had woken him up with their phone call to sing him happy birthday. They also informed him they were going to come see him for the New Year. Sirius was excited about that. He wanted them to meet all his new friends, they would get along with the Tonks well. He missed them and wanted to grow their connection more but he could only focus on one thing at a time for now. That one thing being setting down his roots in New Hampshire.

After seeing an empty inbox, Sirius went about his day. He wasn’t planning on doing a thing. Well, aside from feeding the cat he somehow managed to adopt. He wasn’t sure how the scruffy black cat wiggled its way into his life but there it was. Yet, there it was eating food from its bowl in the kitchen or curling up at Sirius’ feet on the sofa. Sirius always thought he was more of a dog person but he did like the cat. He hadn’t figured out it’s name yet.

Just after noon, Sirius got a message from Remus asking if he wanted to join him, James, and Lily for a game night over at Hope’s. He debated with himself for a little while. He wasn’t feeling up to being around others but thought it would be horrible to spend his birthday all by himself. So, he reluctantly agreed to go and Remus told him he’d pick him up at 8.

By the time 8 pm rolled around Sirius was regretting his decision of going out. He had enjoyed lazing about on the sofa while watching shitty television. But he didn’t want to become some type of recluse so he got changed and waited for Remus a few minutes before the time he arrived in his truck.

The other man was growing out a beard. Apparently he did it every winter to ‘keep his face warm’. Sirius didn’t realize that he would be turned on by facial hair so much but he was. It seemed to grow thicker every time Sirius saw him.

“Happy birthday,” Remus said as Sirius closed the door.

Sirius took a deep breath, taking in the scent that was uniquely Remus Lupin. “Thanks.”

“How’s 31? Should I worry? Is it worse than 30?” Remus chuckled as he pulled away from Sirius’ house.

“Ha, no, you’ll be fine.”

Soon enough they arrived at Hope’s cute white house a few streets from Main Street. Sirius loved the porch in the front of the house. It now had white fairy lights wrapped around the railings. Remus said his mother slowly decorated the whole house for Christmas between the first of November until the day after Thanksgiving. Sirius was looking forward to what it would look like by the time it was finished. He always loved the idea of a Christmas like the one he was picturing in his head for the coming December. He hoped he wouldn’t have to go it alone.

“I think they’re in the living room. Game night is serious business — no pun intended there.” Remus said, closing the door behind them.

Sirius rolled his eyes then headed in that direction. As he rounded the corner, he nearly fell over when he heard “SURPRISE!” being yelled by all of his new friends and their families. He thought it would just be Lily, James, Hope, and probably Harry. Sirius had no idea that nearly 20 people would be filling the living room of Hope’s home to celebrate his birthday. Sirius was couldn’t believe the tears welling in his eyes so he turned around because he didn’t want to be embarrassed. Remus was there with a questioning look.

“Good or bad?”

“Amazing. Oh god, this is the daftest thing to cry over.” He put his hands to his face then he felt Remus ‘strong arms wrap around him. Sirius immediately buried his face into his shoulder.

“It was Remus’ idea.” Marlene said as there was some chatter in the living room. Sirius was happy they all weren’t just standing there watching him cry in Remus’ arms.

“It was all of our ideas.” Remus insisted.

Sirius wanted to pull away from Remus because he felt like he should go thank everyone else and enjoy his party. At the same time he wanted to stay in Remus’ embrace. He also felt so embarrassed by the fact that he was crying. Sirius wasn’t an extremely emotional person so it was completely surprising that he was overcome with so much emotion.

“Oh, Sirius, are you okay, hun?” Hope asked softly, placing a hand on his back.

“I’m fine.” He pulled away from Remus, finally. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve. “I wasn’t expecting it but thank you so much. I — thank you.” Sirius said as Hope hugged him tight.

“Don’t worry about it. Let’s have some food! Everyone brought something. I made the cake. It’s a spice cake because you liked that one I made before.”

“Lily also made some pumpkin whoopie pies and they’re to die for, so don’t eat everything and get full and miss out on those.”

Sirius listened to Hope. He laughed with his new friends, ate the most delicious food, played some games, and just enjoyed a nice night with his mates. He never felt so loved and accepted in his entire life. He never had anyone care enough to do something so sweet. It was all Remus’ idea too.

On the ride back to his house, the truck was filled with balloons, gifts, and leftovers. Remus was humming along to a song that was on the radio. Sirius looked over at him with a grin. “You did that? Everyone kept telling me the party was your idea.” Marlene made the point to say it five times. He had a sneaking suspicious of late that the woman wanted Remus and Sirius to get together even more so than she had led on during Halloween shopping.

Remus shrugged, pulling on Broomhill Lane. “You’re far away from home and it’s your birthday. I’m sure you’re missing at least your brother and friends.”

“I never had real friends.” Sirius shook his head. “Everything, every relationship I was ever in had seven layers of bullshite on top of it. Every birthday party I’ve had, was always orchestrated by my mother or someone who wanted something from me. It was never really about me. Every dinner my friends bought me was always about something else. I don’t know. No one’s ever done these nice things for me like you and your friends.”

“They’re your friends too.” Remus parked the truck. “I’ll help you take these things in. You’re going to have enough food to last you until Thanksgiving. Then at Thanksgiving you’ll have enough food to last until Christmas.”

Sirius nodded with a laugh. His life was the opposite of it was just a few months ago. He wished one more thing would change. He wanted Remus Lupin more with every passing day. Sometimes he thought that Remus felt the same way but he couldn’t be too sure. He didn’t want to get his hopes up. So, he tried his best to remind himself that it probably wasn’t the best idea to get into a relationship just yet. Especially a relationship with his new best mate.

***

The Tuesday following Sirius’ birthday, Remus was watching the news and it looked like they were going to get about four inches of snow at the end of the week. Now, that wasn’t much to worry about. Barely a dusting to most that lived in the area but his mind went right to how underprepared Sirius was. When they did get an actual dusting days before he panicked because he wasn’t ready. So, Remus decided that he needed to take Sirius out shopping once he closed up the shop for the day. He went in early and got a lot of work in, and since there weren’t many customers he decided to close at lunch. Remus loved owning his own place because he got to make those types of choices.

On his way over to Sirius’ house, he thought of the party that happened days before. When he learned it was Sirius’ birthday at dinner the night before Remus felt horrible. Sirius was in a new country with new friends and Remus knew that he was missing his brother. Remus decided to rally everyone to throw together the surprise party. He didn’t expect for Sirius to cry because he was so happy. Then he told Remus that no one had ever done this before. He hated the idea of how lonely Sirius used to be. Every time he thought of it he could completely understand why someone would uproot themselves and go to the complete other side of the world. But he couldn’t let Sirius be lonely on his birthday so he pulled something together. He wasn’t expecting Sirius to get a little teary eyed over it. It was sort of sweet.

Remus parked behind Bill’s car and went into Sirius’ house without knocking because the door was wide open. He wasn’t sure what the Weasley’s were working on now but Remus was glad to see they were taking care of the main house before worrying about the guest house. He knew that Sirius had big plans for what he wanted to do with the property. Remus saw some sketches of ideas that Sirius had but he still wasn’t 100% positive. Arthur told Sirius to come to a hard decision in December so he could start planning on what they needed to do to achieve the idea.

“Sirius?” Remus called out, heading towards the kitchen.

“Remus? Aren’t you supposed to be working?” Sirius asked. He was sitting at his table drinking tea while on his laptop. Somewhere else in the house he heard Bill laughing and Gideon swearing about something.

“I closed up early. I was wondering if you wanted to go shopping for some proper winter wear. We can head down to the outlets and make a day of it.”

Sirius smiled, “Sure. I was planning on closing myself into this house soon with the fire going and the heat on high all the time.”

Remus chuckled, “Let’s get you some provisions. It’s going to get cold and snowy very soon.”

“Deal, let me go get my stuff!” Sirius said as Bill came into the kitchen.

“Just need some ice. Gid just jammed his finger.”

“His he okay?” Sirius looked concerned.

“Yeah,” Bill went for the freezer.

“I’ll also check on him and get my wallet.” Sirius smiled then left the room.

Bill gave Remus a look as he searched for something to put the ice in. “So, just showing up here on a Tuesday midday now?”

“We’re going shopping for cold weather gear.” Remus insisted.

“Sure, Moony. I’m sure you’re doing just that.” Bill scoffed. “Has nothing to do with the fact you have -- a big giant crush on him!” He whispered the last six words.

Remus felt his cheeks flush. He didn’t want to admit it to anyone yet. He still wasn’t really ready to admit it to himself and that conversation with James and Lily was bad enough. “Fuck you.”

“Fuck you too.”

Thankfully Bill said nothing else and Sirius came along, ready to go. They drove the thirty minutes south to the outlets. Remus gave Sirius a list of things he needed: wool socks, a few good sweaters, a couple of thermals, a couple of pairs of gloves, a scarf or two, a pair of snow boots with good tread, a very heavy long coat, a coat that was a little lighter, a few hats, some chapstick, hand cream, and maybe some hand warmers. Sirius typed the list on to his phone without asking any questions. Remus meanwhile couldn’t help but picture the Singaporean completely out of place wearing those things and standing in over a foot of snow.

They first started at L.L. Bean. Remus figured they could get most of it there. Plus, he figured Sirius should experience the New England staple. Sirius first grabbed a handful of wool socks and a pair of slippers because he said that his feet were freezing on the wood every morning. Remus wanted to laugh because it hadn’t been even that cold out yet, only 40*F, maybe upper 30’s. That was really nothing. But Sirius did have some major adjusting to do. After the socks they found a nice set of gloves, hat, and scarf that Remus thought brought out Sirius’ blue eyes. They were a Fair Isle pattern with blue, white, and purple.

“I like this.” Sirius picked up an ash gray peacoat, setting down the tote bag with his things.

“It’s nice but you’re going to want to go warmer.” Remus watched him pull the coat on. He buttoned it up then stood back with his and in his pockets.

“What do you think?”

“It’s nice.”

“You know, I think it’d look better on you.” Sirius said, shaking his head and taking the coat off.

“It’s not my style.”

“I know, you’ve got this country hipster shite going on. I don’t know.” Sirius put the coat back on the hanger then looked through the rack. “This should fit you.” He said before shoving the coat in Remus’ direction.

“Fine.” Remus huffed as he set down the toque that he wanted down to comply with Sirius’ insistence.

“Nice.” Sirius stepped closer to button the coat. Remus felt it was a bit intimate for some reason. “You’re buying this.”

“I am not.”

“Then I’m buying for you. It’s a good coat.”

“I don’t need a good coat. I don’t go fancy places.” Remus chuckled. It was a nice coat but he didn’t see him ever using it practically.

“Sometimes you need to own things that aren’t practical.” Sirius unbuttoned the coat and basically forced Remus out of it. “I’m buying it. You can return it if you want but it’s going to end up in your house and one day you’ll wear it.” Sirius grinned as he shoved the coat into his tote bag.

“You’re not buying it. It’s probably expensive.” Remus complained as they moved around the racks looking for a heavier, practical coat for Sirius.

“I have enough money. Believe me.”

“It’s still an expensive gift.”

“I don’t give a shite.” Sirius rolled his eyes, picking up a navy parka. “Is this good?”

“Yeah, that looks good. Try it on. But I’m still annoyed with the coat.”

“Don’t be. Think of it as repayment for me breaking that bench.” Sirius shrugged.

Remus decided not to argue with the other man anymore about the coat. It would be nice to have but it wasn’t as if he couldn’t afford to buy it. So, he choose to try to pay for it when they got to the register but Sirius protested again. Remus decided not to press too much because Sirius seemed hellbent on it.

“You got most of your list in one go.” Remus said as they left the store.

“And I’m starving. Let’s eat then shop more.”

“Deal.” Remus said, guiding them in the direction of the food court. “Are you excited for snow?”

“I think I am. I have all these fantasies of being cozy and warm in bed with it snowing outside. Or being in the sunroom under my blankets watching the snowfall.” Sirius shifted the bags in his hands. “I think maybe it’d be nice with a boyfriend but…”

“It normally is.” Remus said, not looking at Sirius. “Not that I’ve had one or a girlfriend for like three years.”

“Would you date again?”

Remus wished he hadn’t said anything. He didn’t want this conversation right now. “I think if I found the right person. There’s just not many people to find up here.”

“No, not really.” Sirius agreed. “Would you move back to Boston or a different city?”

“I think about it but I don’t think I could ever do it. Maybe a few months or a year abroad studying somewhere again would be awesome but… I don’t know. As much as I hate on my state sometimes, I do love it.”

“I like it too but I think I’m just going to end up dying old and alone in the cold.”

“Or, you’ll meet some dashing gentleman up here for a wedding one night once you have everything built.” Remus joked.

“Yeah, maybe.” Sirius didn’t sound very interested in that idea. “Or maybe it will just be with someone local.”

Remus was too afraid to ask anymore. He wanted to ask what he meant. Maybe he meant it was with someone in a town close by. He couldn’t let himself think — he didn’t want to let himself think that Sirius meant it was with Remus.


	10. Chapter 10

The news was warning a big snowstorm starting the night after Thanksgiving. Sirius was excited for it. Although it had been chilly and there had been dustings, he was ready for a good amount. It wasn’t as if he was going to be doing anything over the next few days anyhow. James had warned him that there would be many get togethers though, but Sirius was fine with being with his mates in the snow. Remus would drive him, so it wasn’t as if he would have to worry too much about that. He was looking forward the most to having a proper American Thanksgiving meal with the Potters, Lupins, and Marlene and Dorcas. The rest of the group was going to be at other family places.

It was no surprise to him that the Potters and the Lupins were the first to invite him over. He gladly accepted, if only to see Remus. Not that he didn’t love hanging out with James or Lily. Not that he didn’t like The Potters or Hope or Harry. It was just that he fancied the pants off of Remus Lupin. He decided it was going to be impossible for him to say he didn’t fancy Remus. He was going to have to just deal with the fact that Remus didn’t seem interested in dating again. Sirius could completely understand why Remus wouldn’t want to date again. He was sure that he wouldn’t want to either after what happened with Benjy then the intense summer romance he had with that Nathan bloke. Sirius hoped that his feelings would eventually turn platonic but it would be nice to talk to someone about it…

Sirius stretched out in his bed Thanksgiving morning. He forced himself into the shower, which was always a task when he had to get out from under his warm blankets. Crookshanks, which he was calling his adoptive cat, tended to sleep on his feet so he had to wake her up too. He slept with multiple blankets and about a million pillows. The only thing that made his king sized bed just a little less than perfect was the fact that he didn’t have someone to share it with.

When he got out of the shower there was a text from Remus telling him to be ready in 10 minutes. There were also instructions saying not to get out of his PJs and to bring a change of clothes with him for dinner later. Sirius furrowed his brow and texted back asking what on earth Remus was talking about. He never heard a reply, so the man was already on his way. Five minutes after he saw the message, Sirius heard knocking on his door.

With his hair still wet and not ready as Remus asked, he opened the door to find the other man in his PJs wearing a big smile. “Ready?”

“What is happening?” Sirius laughed. “Where are we going?”

“So, my mom thought it’d be nice to invite you to our tradition of watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. I mean, it’s already started but we have DVR — mainly to skip commercials. We have coffee, eat cinnamon buns, and make fun of people. I think all those things are right up your alley”

“I don’t know what this parade is and why it’s important but I like the coffee and cinnamon buns part and making fun.”

“Good, get ready then.”

Sirius did as asked then he and Remus made their way to Hope’s house. Sirius rolled down the window a little because the air smelt different. “It’s the snow that’s coming.”

“What?” Sirius looked at Remus as if he were insane as they turned on to Holderness Road towards Hope’s home.

“You can smell it in the air. I swear, it’s an actual thing. Every time it’s about to snow, the air smells a little different.”

“I want to not believe that because it sounds insane but it is going to snow, so it could be true.”

“Big storm too, which is exciting. It’s going to start tonight, so I plan on hunkering down and watching Christmas movies when I get home from dinner. I do it every year but it will be very appropriate with all the snow.”

Sirius smiled. “That sounds nice.”

“You could join.” Remus offered.

“Really?”

“Yeah, why not.” He shrugged.

“As you say, brilliant.” Remus smiled from ear to ear.

They drove the rest of the way, enjoying the music on the radio. Sirius loved Remus’ taste in music. It was a little bit of everything and always seemed to fit the mood appropriately. He would be happy to just drive around with Remus listening to his music all night. That wasn’t what they were doing because they arrived not too long after at Hope’s, which was just as fine because he loved Hope’s house. It was now about 95% decorated for Christmas and the outside looked beautiful the last time he had come by at night.

When they got inside, Sirius could smell the heavenly scent of cinnamon buns. The house was warm and felt even cozier than normal because there were even more fairy lights up as well as some candles lit and the fire was on. He first followed Remus into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee for each other them. Snuffles was sleeping in the corner of the kitchen. That meant Remus had probably been here already. Sirius wondered if Hope made Remus come get him before they started their morning. Snuffles barely looked at Remus and Sirius when they entered, he’d be a terrible guard dog. Hope informed them the cinnamon buns would be out in five minutes and they should just start watching the parade once they had their coffee.

In the living room, Sirius sat down on the side of the sofa with the chaise lounge. It was his favorite because it made it easier to curl up into a comfortable position. Remus sat on the cushion next to him. There was a whole bloody sofa and Remus really needed to sit next to him? Surely that had to mean something, right? Sirius tried not to think much about it as Remus fiddled with the remote then started the parade. Remus explained to him the history of the parade and how he used to do this with both of his parents when he was younger right up until he went to Florence because he would come home from SCAD over the break but not FIDI. Then when he was back in the states, he lived in Boston and didn’t always get back for Thanksgiving. It wasn’t until after his father passed that his mum and he started doing it again. Sirius loved all the traditions that the Lupins seemed to have. He wanted to join them every year.

“Here,” Remus grabbed the soft blanket from the back of the sofa. He opened it up and spread it across both of them. Sirius smiled, holding on tight to his coffee cup. He felt completely blissful. The only thing that he thought would make it better was if he could snuggle with Remus and maybe have a little of a lazy snogging session. That would be ideal.

“Don’t you two look nice and comfortable.” Hope’s smile lit up her entire face. “I need to make the pie for the Potter’s but I can wait a little longer. I want to watch some of this, we always debate who’s going to drop their baton.” Hope set the cinnamon buns on the table in front of them. She then put one on a plate and handed it to Sirius.

Sirius took a bite, watching some marching band making its way through the streets of New York. He groaned at how delicious the cinnamon bun was. Sirius was definitely in heaven at Hope’s.

About halfway through the parade, after some time of snarky comments and two cinnamon buns and cups of coffee each Hope declared she needed to make her pie. Remus insisted that he’d do it for her. There was a little back and forth and to Sirius’ surprise Hope let her son make the pie. He remembered Remus saying Hope never let him help in the kitchen. “It’s his dad’s recipe.” Hope supplied softly as they heard Remus puttering about the kitchen.

“Ah, I see.” Sirius nodded.

“You two are certainly — close.” She said carefully.

“What?”

“It’s just, well, I don’t know. I haven’t seen my son like this with anyone for a while now.” Hope shrugged, setting her mug on the coffee table. “It’s nice. I hope that, even if it’s not what I think it is, I hope that you’re both happy.”

“Right.” Sirius was too sure what to say but he felt a smile on his face. He wondered if that meant Remus was coming around to the idea of them together. He didn’t want to get his hopes up but it was hard not to.

They finished watching the parade then they all changed into their clothes for dinner. Sirius wasn’t sure why on earth they were having dinner at three in the afternoon. Remus was saying something about traditions and football and how it gets dark early. Sirius still didn’t understand it but he was eager to take part in their traditions. He also only had those two cinnamon buns and coffee all day, so he needed some real sustenance. That sustenance was probably in no short supply at the Potter’s.

The Potter’s house smelt like what he assumed Thanksgiving would smell like. Turkey, cranberry, freshly baked rolls, different spices, and wine filled the air. There was also the sounds of people laughing, the sound of a football game, and the noise in the kitchen. It was all so perfect that Sirius was almost waiting for it all to fall apart for some reason. Maybe he was just used to things not being what they seemed. But there seemed to be no breaks in this. They were all really happy, having a good time, and doing what they loved with who they loved. Sirius wanted to preserve it all in his memory in fear that he would never be back for a Thanksgiving.

Once he ate what felt like a pound of turkey, a gallon of mashed potatoes, enough green beans to feed a small village, and far too many rolls, Marlene asked Sirius if he wanted a cigarette. He said yes because he also had had a few glasses of wine. Remus didn’t join them though but Sirius didn’t mind because he had been asking Marlene some questions. He figured if anyone would shoot straight with him, it would be her. He just felt that from the woman and knew that he could trust her.

“You know, my favorite thing about the holidays? Being at a dinner or party like this and being all warm in there then stepping out into the cold air. It’s so refreshing. Even if it’s not like stuffy or anything, it just feels really good.” Marlene said after lighting her cigarette.

“It is nice.” Sirius said. “Can I ask you something, Marls?”

“Always, Sirius.”

“So, Remus, do you — would… god I don’t know what I really want to ask.” That was a lie, he did not but he didn’t know how to phrase it without sounds too desperate.

“I won’t tell him, unless you’re thinking about murdering him. Then that’s a different story.”

Sirius shook his head with a laugh. “No, not at all. I just want to know if you think he would ever date again?”

Marlene beamed, “Thank fuck.”

“What?”

“If you like him, please do something about it. He’s so into you.”

“Really?” Sirius furrowed his brow. “He doesn’t seem really seem like he’s interested in me most days. Then today it seems like he is. I know what you and James said when we went Halloween shopping but, I don’t know.”

Marlene scoffed. “I can tell you the absolute truth here because I know I’m not betraying Remus with this. He’s never told me that he likes you or whatever but I know that I’ve seen him look like this before.”

Sirius frowned. “Really?”

“Sirius, you’ve taken a lot of leaps recently, right?”

“Right.”

“What’s another one?”

“Another one might ruin my friendship with Remus then with all of you.” Sirius said honestly. “That’s the scariest part. I’ve just settled in here and I love it. I don’t want to see it all go away just when I got what I’ve always wanted.”

“Unless if you become some creepy weirdo or an asshole, I don’t think you’ll hurt what you have with the rest of us. We’ll understand because we know where Remus is coming from if he turns you down.”

Sirius bit his lip. He wasn’t too sure about it all. He wished for some type of divine intervention.

***

Remus scratched Snuffles behind the ears as James came over to sit with him on the love seat. There wasn’t anyone else in the living room at the moment and Remus was happy to have a quiet moment. James looked as if he wanted to talk, which really threw off the whole quiet moment thing. He had a feeling he knew exactly what it was going to be about.

“So, inviting Sirius over for your tradition of the parade with your mom?”

Yep, Remus was right in his ideas. “Yes, and?” He knew that the others would make a big deal out of it. It was kind of a big deal.

“I don’t know, I just think that you’re falling in love with this guy and you either don’t realize it or you are pushing yourself so far away from it in your brain so you can pretend that it’s not happening.” James spoke softly. “I know back on Halloween, you said you wanted to kiss him and you were having some angst about that. But instead of getting further away from him, you’ve managed to get closer to him even if you think you haven’t. I don’t know if you realize that you not but you are.”

Remus sighed, patting Snuffles. “My mom kept giving me the same look she would when I would have my first crush over. She seems to be thinking the same thing as you.”

“What are you thinking?”

“I wanted to kiss him all day.” Remus muttered. “I wanted to hold his hand and kiss him and be disgustingly happy to make you all jealous.”

“Do it.”

He wished that he could just do it but he was terrified. Remus wondered if he could build up the courage while they were watching movies all night at his place. “I don’t think I can.”

James nodded. “Then give it more time.”

Remus felt so frustrated with himself. He just wished that it could be easy for him to jump head first into a relationship with Sirius. The other man was everything he could have asked for and so much more but he kept putting up these mental blocks with it all. He hoped that spending some time with him at his house watching movies would help him come to some type of conclusion.

Around 8:30, everyone started to leave the Potter’s because they were all sleepy from eating so much. Remus decided to do the same. First he took Sirius home first so the other man could change into sweats, take out his contacts, and drop off the leftovers that were forced on him as usual. Sirius also had to feed Crookshanks as well. Remus suggested he bring the cat but Sirius worried how he would react to Snuffles. Then they went to Remus’ house. When they got out of the car, Sirius paused, looking up at the sky.

“It’s snowing.” Sirius sighed. The other man had seen snow before but to Remus’ knowledge had not gone out while it snowed since he was in England.

Remus smiled, hearing the joy in Sirius’ voice. Snuffles carefully got out of the back and went towards the house. When he got to the steps he looked back at the two men impatiently.

“It normally snows when I’m sleeping or not going anywhere.” Sirius said as the thick flakes began to fall quickly. “It’s bloody cold but it’s so beautiful.”

“Come on, I’ll make some hot chocolate and you can pick the first movie out as the guest.” Remus said, taking his leftovers out of the car.

“That sounds like a good deal.” Sirius sighed loudly, still looking up at the night sky. “How come it seems lighter out?”

“I don’t know, there’s probably some science behind it like how it smells like snow but it always looks lighter out when it snows. It’s nice though, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It is.”

Remus was staring at Sirius unabashedly. His long, neck stretched as the snowflakes fell into his black hair. Remus wanted to lean in and just kiss it.

Taking some control of himself, he invited Sirius inside and went straight to his kitchen. He instructed Sirius in started the TV and get Netflix up. Remus a minute to get himself together after nearly going in for a kiss. If he could just overcome his fears and give it a try, he felt like it could just go right but it was so terrifying. Sirius was interested in him, there was little doubt about that. But he was worried Sirius’ past would just be too much. He couldn’t go through what happened with Benjy or Nathan again. He also couldn’t stand it if Sirius decided to leave again or if Sirius’ old demons just became too much.

Remus took the two mugs of hot coco out to the living room to find that Sirius was already underneath his fleece blanket on the sofa. Love, Actually was paused on the TV and he looked ready to go. “I’m going to start the fire.” Remus said.

“Please do.”

“Do you think you’ll get used to the cold this winter?” Remus questioned as he went to the hearth.

“Ha, probably not.” Sirius snickered. “It will probably take a few winters. I don’t mind, at least it’s pretty. I can deal with it.”

“I know but it will get old fast come February. It’s all well and good during the holidays but after that it gets somewhat monotonous.”

“But then spring will come and it will be all new again.” Sirius said as Remus lit the starter.

“Very true.”

Remus joined Sirius on the sofa. Snuffles was already curling up by the warm fire. Soon enough they were both underneath the blanket. Sirius’ cold feet were against his. It all felt far too intimate to him. Except maybe not because he loved it. He wanted to have many more nights like this. He wanted to spend as much time as possible with Sirius. Remus just needed to figure out how to get over that mental hump.

“I’m sorry if my feet are cold.” Sirius said, pulling his side of the blanket up to his chin. “I should have brought my slippers with me.”

“I don’t mind.” Remus tried to focus on the TV. Sirius’ toes wiggled against him and Remus couldn’t help but laugh. He moved his legs so they were covering Sirius’ feet.

Halfway through the movie, Sirius started to nod off. His head ended up on Remus' shoulder and Remus tried not to move or make a big deal of it. He let himself move a little closer to Sirius and rest his hand against his leg. Eventually he closed his eyes and drifted off.

When he woke up, he and Sirius were tangled up together on the couch with the blanket twined around them. The fire had died down and the movie was off. It was light outside and Remus could see that it was still snowing but there was already a nice blanket out there. Remus was doing his best to ignore the fact that his knee was between Sirius’ legs and his arm was wrapped around the other man. He would have got up but Sirius was basically on top of him.

“What time’s it?” Sirius’ voice with thick with sleep.

“I think it’s around 7.” Remus ventured a guess. He looked to see Snuffles was still curled up by the fire.

“I don’t know where my glasses are.”

“I don’t think I’m on top of them.” Remus said as Sirius carefully stood up.

Sirius squinted around then let out an ‘ah huh’ before reaching over to the side table. He put on his black and purple framed glasses on as Remus sat up. “God I can’t sleep on the couch like I used to.” He groaned, stretching out.

“I know, my body is killing me. I also still feel like I’m full. It is not normal to eat that much.” Sirius sat back down then yawned.

“It is crazy, isn’t it?” Remus laughed.

“I can’t wait to do it again next year.”

“Well, we do have Christmas next. You’ll be invited to the Potter’s with us again, I’m sure. They have just as much food but a little bit of a different spread for Christmas. There’s usually ham instead of turkey.” Remus said as Sirius stood back up.

“I’m looking forward to it.” He went over to the sliding glass doors that led to Remus’ backyard. “This is — how is it this place is so beautiful? Every day is like a painting, a different one. I don’t think I could describe it in words. I was talking to my cousin the other day and I tried to describe it but couldn’t.”

“Is this the cousin that’s coming out to visit at New Year’s Eve?”

“Yes.” Sirius nodded. “You’re going to have to meet her. I think she wants to do Boston for a day or so but she and her husband and kid will definitely come up here.” Sirius explained, still looking out the window. “They’re all very excited.”

“I can’t wait to meet them.” Remus was happy that there was someone still in Sirius’ family that the man could turn to. He couldn’t imagine how much Sirius hurt after being treated so terribly all his life. He couldn’t imagine not being able to be who he was with his friends and family. Now the only person he was close to after all that, his brother, still had not reached out to him.

“They can’t wait to meet you.” Sirius turned back to him with a grin.

“They know about me?” Remus was a little surprised.

“Yes, they think you’re interesting because you’re a brilliant designer who lives in a small town with his famous author mother. Andi thinks it’s intriguing.”

Remus chuckled. “It’s how I like it.”

“I like it too, so don’t the rest of your friends and family. I know Andi, Ted, and Nym will love it here too.”

“Maybe you can convince them to move out to New Hampshire. Start a Black clan here.”

Sirius snickered, “That’ll be the day.”

Remus smiled as Sirius sat back down on the couch with him. “Have you — have you heard from your brother?”

“No.” He shook his head, looking a little down. “Nope.”

Remus reached over to squeeze Sirius’ hand. “Maybe at Christmas.”

“Maybe.” Sirius sighed. “Let’s change the subject to breakfast. I’ll cook for you.”

“You will? I didn’t know you cooked.”

“You’re missing a lot about me Remus, it seems.” Sirius said.

Remus wondered exactly what else he was missing.


	11. Chapter 11

After spending over 24 hours straight with Remus, Sirius was back at his own place. As he settled into bed, he couldn’t believe that he had slept with Remus on the sofa the night before. Sirius was awake for a solid ten minutes before moving. He didn’t want to lose the warmth and the comfort of Remus so quickly. Once they were up, Sirius made breakfast then they watched a few bad movies on this Hallmark channel that Remus said he couldn’t get enough of. Sirius couldn’t blame him. The three movies they watched were pretty formulaic but insanely enjoyable.

The lead character always had some sort of problem and/or was thrown into a weird situation. They would meet their love interest as they were trying to solve this Christmasy issue. There would be some type of conflict to keep the love interests apart. In the end, everything would be solved just in time for Christmas and they would kiss and everyone would be happy. Sirius could only hope would get that type of happy ending at one point.

Before going home, Sirius and Remus had dinner where they just chatted about whatever was on their minds. After, Sirius decided he needed to go back to his place. The amount of time they had spent with each other was probably getting weird and he needed to change his clothes at least. Also, Crookshanks needed more food and some cuddles. So, he was back home and his house never seemed more lonely before. He loved being alone in his house. Even if he wanted someone to share his home with, he never felt like it was boring. Except after spending so much time with Remus, his home felt completely empty. Sirius turned the telly on and went to scroll through some apps on his phone to distract him. Sirius was doing his best not to think about Remus Lupin.

 _ **CRASH**_!

Sirius nearly jumped out of his skin at the ear-splitting noise. He did jump out of his bed, tangling himself up in his sheets and falling on his face onto the area rug under his bed. Crookshanks let out a loud meow then ran out the door in the commotion. Sirius untangled himself to stand up and look to see what on earth happened.

A part of his ceiling had fallen in and was currently laying on his bedroom floor. It wasn’t too big but he could now see straight up to the stars in the clear sky. There was snow all over his room as well as wood and tiles from his roof. “What the fuck?” Sirius laughed, sitting on his bed. The cold was now seeping in and Sirius wasn’t sure what to do.

Without much thought, he called Remus. Remus always seems to know what to do and he was handy… not that he could fix the sodding ceiling falling in on him. Plus, he knew he was not disturbing the other man. He wasn’t sure what the rest of the group was doing and he knew the Weasleys were out of town.

“Miss me already?” Remus chuckled after picking up after the first ring.

“My fucking ceiling fell in!” Sirius was sure he was shrieking because it was still unbelievable as he stared up at the night sky.

“What?” Remus sounded completely serious now. All the humor had left his voice. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, it was just a small part but I can see outside and I don’t feel very safe right now. I think I’ll just sleep downstairs.”

“Okay, pack some of your shit up and I’ll come to get you. Do whatever you need to get the house together. I’ll help when I get there if you need.”

“What?”

“The roof needs to be fixed. God knows what could happen overnight. The Weasleys will take care of it but not until Tuesday when they’re back from Arthur’s family’s place in Vermont. I've got an extra room here. It’s fine.”

Sirius sighed then stood up. “Thank you, Moony.”

“No worries, Sirius.”

Not fifteen minutes later, Sirius was packed for the long weekend. He had taken care of making sure things that were important to him wouldn’t get ruined with the open hole or if more of it fell in. He had Crookshanks in the cat carrier ready to go. Sirius hoped the cat wouldn’t mind going to Remus’ but he didn’t want to leave her at the house alone, even if she was an outdoor cat. She was used to be fed by Sirius now. She would probably spend most of her time outside anyway.

Remus was already in the driveway by the time Sirius made it downstairs. He was so thankful that the other man would do this for him. Sirius knew he wouldn’t get any sleep the rest of the night knowing that his house had a hole in the roof if he was trying to sleep in it, even downstairs. At least at Remus’ he didn’t have to be constantly reminded that something was wrong.

“I almost had a heart attack.” Sirius disclosed at Remus started to drive towards his house. “The noise was so loud and jarring.”

“Thank god it didn’t land on you. That would have been something much worse.”

“It was on the other side of the room.”

Remus nodded.

“I made sure nothing I like would be damaged if it snowed or rained or some animals came in.” Sirius snickered. “I can’t believe it.”

“It’s insane but there’s nothing we can do about it right now. Just try to relax the rest of the weekend.”

“I’ll try. Maybe the house is actually cursed.”

“It’s not cursed, it’s just so fucking old.” Remus scoffed.

Sirius had to agree.

Once they got to Remus’, he showed Sirius the guest room. They talked a little bit but Remus looked tired so he went straight to bed. He didn’t fancy trying to get Crookshanks and Snuffles acquainted just yet anyway. Sirius got settled in and tried his best to get to sleep. He went back on his phone as he did before his roof fell in. He sent a message to Andi about his roof collapsing and now he was staying with what was probably the man of his dreams. Then he lied awake for about an hour, trying to fall asleep in a bed that wasn’t his just across the hall from the person he wanted to share a bed with.

The next day was mostly spent alone. He had Crookshanks and Snuffles, so he wasn’t all by himself. Remus went to the shop to get some work done. He apparently had some holiday orders to see too and a couple of gifts that he wanted to get done for his friends and family. Sirius decided to spend the day watching bad Christmas movies on that channel Remus had introduced him to while cuddling with Snuffles and eating leftovers. He also got Crookshanks and Snuffles acquainted and that actually went really well.

When Remus came home, Sirius was curled up on the sofa watching a movie about some lady that had to relive Christmas every day until she fixed some mistake. All Sirius knew was that she’d figure it out and make some big revelation then everything would eventually be okay and she’d get her dream man. Remus laughed at Sirius’ lazy day then joined him on the sofa before making dinner. Sirius loved how comfortable this all was with Remus. But at the same time, Sirius could feel some tension bubbling up. He had been feeling it since Halloween if he was being honest with himself. It was just growing stronger and stronger since the Halloween party.

After staying up late talking about nothing and everything at the same time, Sirius went to sleep at nearly three in the morning. But he still woke up at 9 in the morning because he could never sleep in, no matter what. It was just his natural rhythm. He decided to make breakfast for Remus after taking a shower. It was another snowy day, so he knew that they weren’t going to be going anywhere.

When he was mixing the pancake mix, Remus came into the kitchen. He was wearing shorts and an old worn out tee shirt.

“You didn’t have to.”

Sirius shrugged, “I wanted to.”

Remus sighed, moving closer to him. He could feel the heat of the other man’s body. “Sirius,” He paused. It felt very loaded, making Sirius’ stomach turn a bit.

“What is it?” Sirius set the mixing bowl down and turned to Remus. His eyes were full of something that Sirius hadn’t seen before in the other man.

“I’m going to kiss you. If that’s okay with you because I can’t take it much longer.” Remus shook his head.

Sirius felt like his heart jumped up into his throat. This was the last thing he was expecting this morning. But he just nodded as Remus surged forward and pressed him up against the counter top. Remus’ lips found his, desperately. His beard was scratchy but Sirius liked it. The kiss was as if Remus never thought he’d kiss anyone ever again. He probably did at one point or another.

“Good morning.” Sirius said breathlessly with a laugh when Remus pulled back. Sirius held on to Remus’ hips so he wouldn’t go anywhere.

“Sorry.” Remus said with a sharp laugh.

“Please, don’t be.” Sirius shook his head and pressed a kiss to Remus’ neck. He couldn’t understand what on earth Remus could be sorry for. “You don’t know how long I wanted you to do that.”

“You don’t know how long I wanted to do that.” Remus’ thumb came up to trace just under his lip.

“I’m not sure but I’m glad you did. Can I ask why now? I’m not complaining but what changed your mind?”

“Because I was sitting in bed thinking about how crazy it was that we’ve spent the last three days together and all I’ve wanted to do was kiss you. I could have been kissing you all night last night. You could have slept in my bed. I couldn’t take it any longer, Sirius.”

“Thank god.” Sirius grinned and pulled Remus in for another kiss. This kiss was slower but still just as passionate. Sirius melted into it as Remus lifted him up onto the countertop.

“Do you want breakfast?” Sirius was hoping the answer would be no. He would happily let everything sit and clean it up later. Fuck breakfast for the moment.

“No, not really that hungry.” Remus reached over and turned the stovetop off. “Well, not right now. I just want you.”

Sirius wrapped his legs around Remus and to bring him closer. “Take me to bed.”

Remus grinned, “Really?”

“God, yes, I’ve been dying you have no idea. But only if you want to — of course.”

Remus lifted Sirius up, off the counter, “Of course I want to.”

“Oh god, you’re really carrying me off to shag me, aren’t you? This is very much a fantasy I’ve had. Am I awake? This isn’t something I’m playing out in some dream is it? Did I fall on some ice and hit my head? Is it like one of those shitty movies I’ve been watching where it’s all a dream or something?”

“No, this is very real.” Remus hoisted him up then carried him off towards the stairs. Sirius insisted on being put down to go up the stairs and Remus listened. Sirius didn’t want him to get hurt before the real fun started. But when they entered Remus’ bedroom, the other man basically threw him over his shoulder and carried him to his bed. So, he did get his fantasy taken care of. He appreciated that Remus indulged him in it.

Remus’ kisses were what dreams were made out of, Sirius was positive. He was rough at times but then would be soft and easy. There would be urgency then he’d draw it out. Sirius wanted to melt as the other man’s large hands made their way up his shirt, his fingers grazing over his stomach. He nibbled at Remus’ bottom lip before pushing him to sit up.

Sirius pulled Remus’ shirt off of him, revealing not only the full sleeve on Remus’ arm but the moon phases across his chest. Sirius had no idea that existed. “Moony,” He ran his fingers across his phase.

“It’s better than the reason I’m called that.”

“I’d like to see that as well.” Sirius slid his hands down and groped Remus’ arse.

Remus chuckled before getting Sirius out of his shirt. Then he stood up and got out of his bottoms. Sirius bit his lip before reaching out to cup Remus’ growing erection through the black material of his briefs. He moved forward to press kisses to Remus’ lower abdomen before moving to the floor in front of him on his knees. He pressed open mouth kisses against the bulge and Remus’ fingers stroked through Sirius’ hair.

Hooking his fingers around the elastic, Sirius pulled the briefs down. Remus’ long, thick cock was right in front of his face. “Jesus, Remus.”

“What?” Remus said with a knowing glint in his eye.

“It’s huge.” Sirius wrapped a hand at the base of the other man’s cock.

“You’re certainly enthusiastic about it.” Remus laughed then let out a soft moan when Sirius licked up the underside of Remus’ cock. He stopped at the head then swirled his tongue around it before he wrapped his lips around Remus. He bobbed his head up and down with his hand following after it to reach every inch of his member.

After a few minutes Sirius pulled back and grinned up at a heavy-lidded Remus. “On the bed.” Remus said, a bit breathlessly. Sirius wished Remus could look at him like that all the time. They would never get anything accomplished if he did. Sirius was sure that he didn’t mind that.

Sirius did as commanded. He yelped when Remus flipped him over on to his stomach. After reaching into his nightstand for what looked like lube and a condom, Remus kneeled between his legs then leaned down over him. He kissed a line down his back, stopping at the small of his back. Sirius’ toes were already curling with anticipation. He was very glad he took a shower just a little while ago now.

Remus’ hot, wet tongue traced down his path to his hole. Remus’ hands came up and gently parted his cheeks. The other man licked him carefully and Sirius ground his hips into the soft comforter underneath him. About a minute later, Sirius felt Remus move back there was the sound of the cap popping open. A few seconds later, a finger pressed against him and slid easily inside. Sirius moved back against his finger and groaned, burying his face into the pillow under him.

Another finger easily joined and Remus grazed his prostate. “Fuck!” Sirius bucked his hips. “Just fuck me, please, Remus. I don’t need a lot of help to get me ready. I’ve been waiting for this for months.”

“Anything you want.” Remus carefully slid his fingers out. “Anything.”

Sirius took a deep breath and got up on to his hands and knees as Remus put on a condom. A moment later, Remus was pressing against him and his thick cock began to fill him slowly. Sirius gripped the duvet cover and his hands, moving his hips back to take Remus into him.

Once Remus was all the way inside of him, he paused for a moment and rubbed his hands up and down Sirius’ back. Then Sirius rocked against him. Remus took the hint and began to move his hips slowly at first, building up to a fast pace. Sirius met Remus’ hips by moving his body back when Remus drove forward.

Remus threaded his fingers through Sirius’ hair then pulled him to sit up. Sirius did so his back was flush against Remus’ stomach. The larger man wrapped a hand around his cock and began to stroke him in time with his thrusts. Sirius turned so he could kiss Remus on the lips. It was a mess kiss and they bumped noses but Sirius didn’t mind as he was getting closer.

Feeling his orgasm pooling his abdomen, Sirius did his best to quicken the pace. A minute later he felt the ripple of pleasure move through him and he came across the comforter in front of him, holding on tight to Remus’ arm. Sirius rode out the orgasm as Remus continued to fuck him. As he came down, Remus pushed him back down to his hands and knees and began to move his hips with urgency.

“Oh, Sirius, fuck.” Remus came, burying himself deep inside of him.

“Jesus.” Sirius sighed as the other man slowly pulled out of him.

Sirius was sure he was never going to be able to move from the mattress again as he drifted off to sleep.

***

After Remus woke up from a wonderful post-coital nap, they had sex again then took a shower before heading down for breakfast. They had to ditch most of what Sirius had left behind but Remus didn’t mind at all. He was feeling euphoric and couldn’t stop kissing Sirius long enough to make a full meal anyhow. So they settled on bagels with cream cheese and some coffee even though it was lunch time now.

They were sitting at the small table in the kitchen. Sirius was reading We Were the Lucky Ones and Remus was making notes for what he had to accomplish before Christmas. It all felt so natural and domestic. Remus needed to ask something that he had floating in his mind. He hoped he wouldn’t sound desperate or weird by asking it.

“So, are we, er, are we like dating now?” Remus asked hesitantly. He felt like an idiot for asking but he just wanted to clarify things. They could have sex all they wanted, that didn’t mean a thing.

Sirius laughed, “I’ve wanted to date you since I’ve met you. So I’m 100% ready for that if you are.”

“I think I am. I’ve been debating about it for at least the last month. I know what happened before was completely screwy with Benjy and then after with Nathan…” Remus shook his head. He really thought he’d never be able to trust anyone to love again. But he couldn’t believe that Sirius Black weaseled his way into his heart.

“Take your time, Moony.”

“I want to be with you, Sirius. So, let’s be together. It just might not be easy all the time.”

“Most relationships aren’t always easy. If they are, then something is going on where they’re lying to one another about something.”

”Ben’s and my relationship was easy until the very end and looked at how that turned out.”

Sirius nodded. “I plan on putting in the work, so, don’t worry.”

“Me too.” Remus nodded.

They finished eating their brunch then went into the living room to watch TV. As the sun was going down, they were cuddled up on the sofa with Snuffles — who was taking up most of it — and Crookshanks, watching another bad Hallmark movie. Remus heard his front door open. It was either James or Marlene. Everyone else would have called or rang the doorbell. “I didn’t think there was much crime in their area.” Sirius laughed as Snuffles got off the sofa in see who it was.

“I’m guessing it’s James.”

“You would guess right!” James said as he came into the living room. “You two look mighty cozy.” James raised an eyebrow as he came to stand in front of the TV. Snuffles was head butting his leg. Crookshanks had got off the sofa and to sniff James’ socked feet.

“We were until you came busting in.” Remus scoffed. “What’s going on?”

“Are you two…”

“Snuggling? Yes, rather comfortably.” Sirius answered with a grin as Remus wrapped an arm around him.

“Together!?”

“Yes, we are.” Remus rolled his eyes.

“Yes!” James jumped up with a fist pump.

“You’re really that excited?” Sirius snickered.

“Of course I am, we’ve been waiting for this to happen since August.”

“What do you want? Why didn’t you call?” Remus forged ahead.

“Well, I did. I called you both multiple times, actually but neither answered. There’s also a number of text messages as well.”

“So, you just came walking into Remus’ house? Good thing you didn’t get here a little while ago.” Sirius chuckled as James went red.

“We’re going ice skating on the lake. The ice is thick enough. I wanted to see if you all wanted to join in on the fun.”

“I don’t want to move.” Remus complained. He was feeling very lazy and it probably had to do with the fact he had been either having sex or making out with Sirius for most of the day.

“Fine. Another day. We’re going, so if you decide to join, come along. It stopped snowing, so it’s perfect out for it.” James informed them.

“We won’t. Another day.” Remus grinned at his friend.

“I’m happy for you both.” James gave a little nod then said his goodbyes.

Sirius laughed as he heard the door close. “Thank you for saying no. I don’t fancy falling on my arse. I don’t think it can handle that right now.”

“Yeah, let’s be very nice to that for a little while, eh?” Remus kissed the back of Sirius’ head.

“I don’t know how to skate either.”

“You can barely walk sometimes without falling, so I’m not surprised.” Remus snorted. “You’re lucky I find the klutziness so endearing.”

Sirius gently elbowed Remus in the ribs. “You’re the one that makes me like that.”

“I’ll do my best to catch you.” Remus kissed Sirius on the cheek.


	12. Chapter 12

It was only one week before Christmas now. Sirius was always cold but Remus did his best to keep him warm in many different ways. He bought him these cute penguin hand warmers the other week to keep him his gloves. Remus always made sure he wore a hat when they went out. Remus also had his fire going all the time in the house when they were there. Sirius liked being curled up on the sofa with Remus and their animals but he did enjoy going out into the snow, even if he froze. The mountains were somehow more magical with snow coating the evergreens. He wanted to look at them like that forever.

Today, Sirius was not enjoying the beauty of the mountains from Remus’ living room. The first thing needed to do was go to his house. He was checking on what progress was being made on the house that was keeping him from staying in his home over the last few weeks. They had made the most important fixes to the roof and the floors. The floors had to be redone because of the rain and the snow that had ended up falling on them. Sirius also needed to replace his bedding and mattress, which wasn’t a big deal. He had already ordered these things from IKEA and they were on their way before the weekend.

Hope, Marlene, and Dorcas were meeting him there to go shopping afterward. Sirius nodded to finish up his Christmas shopping. He couldn’t find the one really big gift for his boyfriend. They had been only dating a few weeks but he wanted to get him something nice. He knew Remus was probably going to make him something but Sirius didn’t have that artistic side. But he could buy something nice. Not that it’s the same as giving something that he made.

“Okay, so, you’re all set. The roof is good. We checked it all and had to replace those beams, like we told you and a few tiles. We’re good now. The floor is all set too.” Peter said as Bill and Charlie ate the sandwiches Sirius had brought over with him.

“So, I can move back?” Sirius asked.

Bill raised an eyebrow, “You actually want to? You’ve been playing house with Moony the last few weeks, happily I thought. You want to leave?”

Sirius blushed a deep red. He really didn’t want to leave Remus’ house but they had only been dating for a few weeks. It was strange that they were practically living together. Sirius and Remus talked about it and knew that it was just circumstance. Sirius even offered that he could stay with someone else but Remus said it was stupid and it didn’t matter. Sirius agreed because he enjoyed it. Remus’ house felt like home. He did like that he had his house back and his own space, so maybe they could use some nights apart. Sirius wasn’t sure if he wanted an empty bed at night, though.

“I’m not leaving Remus. We’re not living together so I’m trying to have a normal relationship.” Sirius reminded them as the front door opened and he heard laughing. “I just was staying with him until this was all fixed. So I will be coming home.” Sirius said with a wave of his hand. But he was sad that his house wasn’t as festive as Remus’. They had decorated it the weekend after Thanksgiving. Sirius was basically living in Santa’s Village (which he found was actually a real amusement park not too far from him). He needed to get on his own house.

“You’re not living together? You’re fooling all of us, man.” Marlene scoffed as the women came into the kitchen.

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Okay, we’re going Christmas shopping, now.” He didn’t want to have this conversation any longer. That was something to be discussed with Remus and no one else. He knew his friends meant well but it wasn’t something he took lightly.

“I could use a new spatula.” Bill said and Charlie laughed. “What?”

“That wasn’t even subtle.” Charlie complained as Sirius pulled his coat back on.

“Well, I want a new spatula, so I’m putting it out there. It is Christmas after all and these people are going to buy gifts.” Bill reasoned.

“At least we know what to get him. Some people aren’t telling us a thing.” Dorcas complained. “What the hell do Remus and Lily want? If anyone knows, tell me because I’m at a loss as I normally am this time of year with them.”

“Honestly, I have no idea about Remus. He won’t tell me anything. It’s driving me mad.” Sirius said. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to get Remus mainly because the man gave no hints at what he wanted or needed. That was his main goal for today but he had no clue what to do. He felt like it should be something nice since they were dating.

“I’m his mother and I have known him longer than you all and I had no idea. I’ve been bugging him for a list since November and he’s given me no ideas.” Hope huffed a breath, shaking her head. “How’s the house, Sirius?”

“Good, I can move back in. That’s what the whole me living with Remus thing was about.”

“Ah, I see.” Hope nodded. “Well, let’s go shopping.” She said. Sirius was happy that Hope didn’t want to contribute to the subject.

The group went off, with a reminder that Bill wanted a new spatula. Marlene drove towards the outlets but was insisting they stop at some large antique store on the way. Dorcas didn’t want to because she said she was always bored when they went into antique shops. Marlene ignored her wife and took the exit off the highway anyway. Sirius laughed, listening to the two bicker. He was on Marlene’s side because he wanted to go into the shop. He could probably find Remus something nice there.

“I wouldn’t laugh too much.” Hope commented as they parked. “You and Remus sounded like that the other day when I was over for dinner.”

Sirius smiled, they did. He decided to take it as a good thing because he thought Marlene and Dorcas had a great relationship. He was fairly certain his and Remus’ relationship was going well and it was nice to have that comparison, even though it was a bit silly.

They got out of the car and went into the building that looked as if it was about to fall over. It was almost in as bad of shape as the inn, except it was standing a little straighter. The seafoam paint was cracked and peeling. The stairs looked as bad as his old porch. But when they stepped inside it was like going into some magical universe. The place was dressed up for Christmas with fairy lights everywhere and all the goods were displayed like it was just someone’s house filled with old trinkets. He knew Remus would love this place.

As he wandered through the rooms, Sirius kept an eye out for something Remus would appreciate and love to have in his house to even at the shop. He came across a bundle of old records. He picked them up, those would be something that Remus would love. Sirius never had a day pass with the other man that he didn’t listen to music. But he didn’t feel like that was exactly what he wanted for Remus’ big gift. It was thoughtful but he wanted some more.

Then he saw it as he turned into another room. It was a gorgeous old trunk with intricate carvings. It looked like it needed to be restored because it was pretty beaten up but he knew Remus would love it. He knew that that was THE gift because it was exactly something Remus would have in his home. Sirius went off in search of the owner.

“I want this trunk in the other room, here.” He said to the older woman with purple hair when he found her at the cash wrap.

“It needs some love if it’s the one I’m thinking of.” She said, going to follow him.

“I know just the person to love it. He a furniture maker.” Sirius spoke quickly as they made it back to the room. “Tell me how much it is. Would it be okay if I come to get it tomorrow? We’re in a car and I’ll have to borrow a truck or something to pick it up if that’s okay.” He figured that one of the Weasleys would give him a hand with it.

“That’s fine dear.” She laughed. “I’ve never seen someone so excited about an old piece of junk.”

Sirius just smiled. He had never been so excited over a gift for someone else either but he felt like it belonged to Remus.

“Oh, he’s going to love that.” Hope said, walking into the room they were in. “It’s a project too and you know he loves a good project.”

Sirius nodded as the old woman went off. “I just saw it and knew.”

“You know him well, Sirius.” She put an arm over his shoulders. “Now, let’s hope my sometimes unsentimental son can find you something nice as a gift. I know how he can be.”

Sirius laughed. Remus was somewhat unsentimental. But at the same time he saw the sentiment come out in different ways. For instance, he always kept up with traditions like dinner with the Potters or lazy Sundays or Thanksgiving morning with Hope. He had little doubt that Remus would do something sweet for him, even if it were a gesture. He didn’t need something material to know the other man cared or thought about him. “I have faith in him.”

“You do, huh? You must be in love.”

Love. That was something that Sirius had thought of quite a bit lately. They had only been dating for three weeks. That didn’t seem very long. Sirius wasn’t sure when the proper time would be to say it. Was there a proper time? Maybe he’d say it on Christmas. That could be part of the gift. Or maybe on New Years, that was a bit further out. He never thought about it so much before with his past boyfriends. But he never felt this way with his past boyfriends.

“Are we almost done? I’m so bored.” Dorcas complained as she came into the room where he and Hope were.

“Yes, we’re almost done.” Hope assured her. “Sirius got Remus a gift.”

“This junk box?” She pointed to the chest.

“It’s not a junk box!” Sirius defended it.

“Yeah, you’re right, Remus would think that it was freaking awesome. Where’s my wife? We might end up with some actual junk knowing her.”

Sirius smiled. He couldn’t believe that he had such good friends and an amazing boyfriend when only a few months ago he wasn’t sure what it was like to be happy. He was now, there was little doubt about that.

***

Remus finished up the work on Sirius’ Christmas gift and looked out the window. The snow was beginning to fall slowly outside. It had been a snowy season and winter was just getting started. Remus was enjoying it because Sirius was expiring it all with fresh new eyes. Sirius was at his own house tonight. They were trying to spend some nights separately. It was too early in their relationship to be living together but Remus wanted to surprise his boyfriend tonight. He had planned it all out for a very romantic night that Sirius wasn’t expecting. It was a little bit of an early Christmas gift.

So, he closed up the shop, grabbed his bag and headed to his truck. When he pulled on to Broomhill, he was happy to see the Christmas lights Sirius seemed determined to put up framing each of his front windows were on. No doubt the Weasleys helped him with it. Sirius wasn’t the most handyman on the planet and he was prone to be clumsy. That was okay though, Remus was handy enough for the both of them. They had spent the whole other day putting the rest of the house together with Christmas decorations. They still needed to do the tree, which Remus wanted to work on getting tomorrow.

When Remus got to Sirius’, he got out of his truck and knocked on his door. He knew he could have just walked in but it was apart of the surprise. Sirius opened it with a confused look. Remus kissed him quickly then moved passed him to step inside the house. “Get dressed up nice and warm.”

“Why?” Sirius looked at him skeptically. Sirius was in joggers and an old Oxford sweatshirt. His contacts weren’t out yet so he wasn’t about to completely settle in for the night.

“We’re going ice skating.” Remus smiled, pulling Sirius close for another kiss.

Out on Sirius’ property, he had already set up the fire pit by the pond (and covered it so he could light it easily). He put his snowmobile out back so they didn’t have to trek across the snow to get to the pond. Remus knew that Sirius would have been exhausted by the time they made it out there. He had shoved the pond so he could see it yesterday afternoon. He also found ice skates for Sirius and brought a few large lanterns to light the small pond.

“Ice skating?” Sirius looked somewhat terrified after pulling away from Remus embrace.

“Don’t worry, it will be fun. I’ll make sure that you won’t die or anything.”

“That’s reassuring. How should I dress?” Sirius furrowed his brow.

“Thermals under jeans and a sweater. Then your heavy coat and wool socks. Obviously hat, gloves, and scarf too.” Remus pulled him into another kiss, lingering a little this time. He needed to stop kissing him or he was going to get very sidetracked.

“Fine. But tomorrow you’re helping me get a Christmas tree.” Sirius crossed his arms.

“Deal.” Remus said.

“Your mum and Effie gave me a million baubles.”

Remus laughed, “Baubles.”

“That’s what they’re called.”

“Bulbs.”

“Same thing.” Sirius pretended to glare at him then went off to change out of his sweats. He paused about halfway to the stairs and turned around with a mischievous look in his eye. “Sure you don’t want to help me change?”

“You’re not getting out of this.” Remus called, setting his bag down to go sit in the living room and wait for Sirius. If he followed Sirius, they were not going to be leaving the house that night.

“Fine, your loss.”

Remus snickered. Like they weren’t going to be doing that when they returned from ice skating. Well, if Sirius somehow broke something then they probably weren’t going to be doing that. But he had to have hope that Sirius could manage not to get injured.

It took Sirius some time to get himself together. Remus was sure the other man was dragging his feet. He eventually came into the living room all wrapped up like some adorable marshmallow and they went off. Remus led him to the snowmobile in the back of the house. Sirius questioned him on when he did all this as Remus got on.

“When you went shopping yesterday with my mom and Marlene and Dorcas.”

“Oh,” Sirius said. “So, I just get on and…”

“Hold on tight. That’s all you have to do.” Remus informed him as he started the snowmobile.

Sirius did as Remus instructed. He clung on tight to Remus around the middle, even before they took off. Remus laughed when the other man pressed a few kisses to his neck then buried his face into Remus’ coat once Remus started to navigate to the pond. It didn’t take very long to get there but he was happy he decided to do the snowmobile and not walk as he looked back to how far away the houses were. It was windy and snowing and the house looked miles away from where they were.

“That was fun. Can you teach me how to drive it?” Sirius asked as Remus went to light the fire.

“Yeah, sure.”

“I always wanted a motorbike.” Sirius sat on the snowmobile, watching Remus.

“Really?” Remus grinned. “You just seem so buttoned up.”

“That’s just thanks to my family. I always wanted to be a rebel.”

Remus chuckled as the starter finally caught. He was a bit worried with the wind and all but it worked out. “Well, you certainly are now. You ran away from your family and your obligations for all the right reasons. Now you’re living in sin with me and doing something your parents probably did not want for you. That’s a rebel if I ever saw one.”

Sirius had gone more in-depth about his past with Remus since they started dating officially. His household was oppressive and abusive. Sirius did his best to take the heat off of his little brother. Then when he got a little freedom he fell into bad habits like drugs and meaningless sex to ease the pain. Sirius told him he had gone to therapy for years after getting out of rehab for the last time, right up until he left Singapore. He was even thinking of finding someone local just to talk to. Remus gave him some names because he had done plenty of research.

After everything was set up, and Remus finally got the skates on Sirius, it was time to skate. The other man hesitated so much until Remus picked him up and brought him over to the ice. Sirius moved so slowly, even just to get on to the ice in the short distance he had to travel from where Remus had set him down.

On the ice, he held on to Remus’ forearms so tight that Remus was thankful for the layers. Remus walked then skated backward extremely slow. “Don’t be so tense in your legs.” Remus laughed as Sirius wobbled a little. “Maybe we should have had sex before I got you out here.”

“It’s hard not to be tense right now! I have some fucking knives taped to my feet and I’m standing on rock-hard ice.” Sirius looked down.

“Just trust me, Sirius, I’ve got you.” Remus shook his head and the other man sighed.

“I trust you. I just don’t trust myself.”

Remus leaned forward and pressed their lips together. “Breath.”

Soon enough, Sirius was attempting to glide a little without holding on to Remus. Remus still stayed standing in front of him to catch the other man in case he did fall.

Good thing he did because Sirius nearly fell on his face. Remus easily wrapped his arms around him. “I’ve always got to catch you.”

“Well, at least this time we didn’t end up a pile of limbs on the ground.” Sirius laughed. “I only fell those times because you had me so flustered. I’ve told you that. I’m normally very well put together.”

Remus smiled, looking into Sirius’ eyes. “So, you could say that you were falling for me.”

“Absolutely.” Sirius pressed his lips to Remus’. “Can we go back soon? I’m bloody freezing. I think my face is going to be a frozen block.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll try skating again. Maybe in the daytime when I can see more.”

“All right.”

“This is ridiculously romantic, by the way.” Sirius nuzzled Remus’ neck with his cold nose. “Snow, fire, forced closeness.”

“It was all my plan.”

After taking care of everything, they went back to the house and spent the night warming up in bed. The next morning Remus helped Sirius find his perfect Christmas tree on the farm close by. It was another perfect winter day for he and Sirius. Remus felt like he was living someone else’s life.


	13. Chapter 13

Remus sucked on Sirius’ pulse point and tangled their hands together. He moved his hips slowly against the others. Sirius was moaning under him. They had to get out of bed because his mother was going to be there any moment now. Remus really wanted Sirius but he should have timed it all a little better. He was about to slide a hand into Sirius’ underwear but his phone buzzed with a text on the bedside table. Remus groaned in frustration.

“Okay, we need to get out of bed now or this might get embarrassing real fast.” He sat back after rolling away from Sirius. He needed to put as much distance between them right now before it went any further.

“You’re a bloody tease, do you know that? I’m going to go wank in the shower and you can go get breakfast ready thinking about that.” Sirius glared at his boyfriend.

“Who’s the tease now?” Remus raised an eyebrow.

“It’s your own fault.” Sirius pulled him into a searing kiss then got out of bed.

Instead of staying and watching Sirius probably strip out of his clothes seductively as he made his way towards the bathroom, he grabbed his robe and went downstairs. He did think of Sirius the whole way. Remus almost wished his mom wasn’t coming but he couldn’t think that way for too long. He could always have Sirius later. If their relationship had anything, it definitely had a very healthy sex life. Well, it had a lot of things including good communication, mutual trust, and so much more but Remus couldn’t complain about how much they connected physically. He was sure he could waste days in bed with Sirius.

Once Remus made it downstairs, his first goal was to get Sirius’ big gift. He went to the closet near the mudroom to take out the gift he had made for Sirius. He knew that the other man would find it if he put it elsewhere because Sirius was nosey and curious. He also knew Sirius would probably figure it out if he stared at it long enough because he was smart so he couldn’t keep it under the tree after he finished making it. Remus was never a great gift giver, so he wanted it to be a nice surprise for his boyfriend.

To Remus’ surprise, when he went into the living room to put his gift under the tree, he found a large gift wrapped sitting nearby. Large was an understatement. When he stood next to the gift, it came up to his knees and was about Sirius’ wingspan across. Remus wasn’t sure how it got there or what it could possibly be. It probably got there when they were over Frank and Alice’s for a Christmas Eve party. When they got home last night, Sirius basically dragged Remus upstairs after he suggested they watch a movie in the living room. Sirius insisted they watch the movie in bed because it was cozier. He had a hard time saying no to getting Sirius in bed so he didn’t protest. He should have known it was bullshit because Sirius loved sitting by the fire in the living room. They were cozy there just as it was.

Remus set his gift on top of the large present and then made himself go into the kitchen. If he stood there looking at it, he’d probably figure it out and he wanted to be surprised. Sirius probably worked hard to get it there because it was so large. So, Remus got the coffee and french toast ready. Only a few minutes later, his mom arrived. She greeted him with a big hug and kiss then went to go put her gifts under the tree.

By the time she finished, Sirius had come downstairs with wet hair, wearing one of Remus’ heavy sweaters and flannel PJ bottoms. Remus wanted to cover his face in kisses when he walked into the living room but his mom came in behind I’m wishing Sirius a merry Christmas and a good morning.

“So, what’s the tradition for this?” Sirius asked, putting a hand on Remus’ back.

“We eat our french toast and drink coffee while we open our gifts.” His mom grabbed two coffee mugs and headed towards the living room.

“And we listen to Christmas music.” Remus said before kissing Sirius as he moved passed him to get the french toast and plates. Sirius took the last coffee mug from the counter and followed them.

They settled into the living room in front of the tree, which lights were still shinning. Sirius took a seat next to his mom on the sofa and Remus sat on the floor. He always stayed on the floor for Christmas. He liked handing out the gifts so it was the best place for him to be. “So, what’s this giant gift, Sirius?” Remus looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “When did you get it in here?”

“You’ll save that for the end, thank you. I want to make you wait.” Sirius shook his head then took a sip of his coffee.

“Too right, we open the small stuff first. Stockings are where we start, Sirius. We don’t even get to the tree gifts just yet.” His mom held up a finger and stood up to get them from the mantle. She was the one to fill them because she said it was her duty as a mother to do that even if they were hanging in Remus’ house.

They all opened their gifts, going smallest to largest as his mother wanted. Sirius was so genuinely happy, even with the smallest things that it made Remus’ heart soar. Sirius had told him that his parents were Christians but they didn’t celebrate Christmas like this back in Singapore. They went around and visited family members and exchanged money. It was basically a big pissing contest for some of the family to see who could give more. Sirius said he always had dreams of a Christmas like the movies and he was finally getting it. Remus loved how excited Sirius was about every little thing that he could sometime be jaded about.

“Okay, the last two big gifts.” His mom instructed after she opened the new crockpot that Remus had bought for her. She had been complaining about wanting a new one for ages — even though she could easily buy one. Remus decided to finally stop her complaining and just get her one for Christmas himself.

Remus stood up to pick up his gift for Sirius. “There you go.” He said after sitting on the arm of the sofa.

“Clearly it’s something you made. It feels like wood.” Sirius ran his hand over the reindeer patterned wrapping paper.

“Well, open it, don’t just stare at the pretty paper. I don’t know what he gave you.” His mom insisted.

Sirius laughed then tore back the paper. Inside was a large sign birch sign that Remus had made to hang at the top of Broomhill when the Inn was all up and ready to go. The words “The Black Estate Inn and Restaurant” were carved in the center. Under it was an image of a large dog under a moon with the Canis Major above it.

“Remus,” He traced the words with his finger. “This is beautiful.”

“So, you like it.”

“I love it, so much. No one’s ever made something so nice for me before. It’s so thoughtful, I didn’t even realize I wanted it.” Sirius sighed. “Now I can’t back out on the name.”

“I know you were going back and forth. If there’s anything I realized about you since we met and that sometimes you need a push in the right direction.”

“I’m glad you made the push. I love it.” Sirius leaned up to kiss Remus quickly. “Your turn! I hope you like it.”

“I’m not sure what could be better than that record haul.” Remus said as he went over to the large gift. He carefully ripped the wrapping off to reveal a large gorgeous trunk. It had beautiful knot carvings along the edges. It was somewhat worn out in places and splintering in others but it was all fixable. “This is amazing.”

“I figured you could stain it or something. I don’t know what you do with this stuff but I thought you’d like it.”

“You thought very right.” Remus opened the trunk. Inside smelled like mothballs and it was lined with some very old, curling at the edges, yellowing paper. This was going to be a wonderful thing to work on and make his own. “Where did you get this?”

“Some antique shop Marlene was obsessed with.” Sirius informed him.

“I think I know the one. She’s dragged me there before, it’s pretty neat.”

“How’d you get it here?”

“Fab and Bill helped out and picked it up from the shop then kept it at Fab’s place before bringing it over here last night in the middle of the Christmas Eve party.” Sirius explained to him.

“Well, I’m glad I got Bill that spatula he was gone on about.” Remus laughed.

“Thank goodness.”

Remus looked over at Sirius who was sitting on the sofa with the sign on his lap next to his mom. He couldn’t believe how easily Sirius had slotted into his life. He had a hard time believing that the other man had only been in town for four months now. It seemed like he had come crashing into his shop years ago. It had even seemed like ages ago that they started to see one another. That was only just over a month. Remus never thought he could be like he was with Ben or Nathan again. Then again, he wasn’t really like this with either of those men. This was something completely different.

“I’m going to clean this up then we can watch something.”

“Right, the Christmas movie before going to dinner with the Potters and Marlene and Dorcas.”

“Exactly.” His mom patted Sirius on the knee. “Look at you, catching on to our traditions so quickly.”

“He’s a fast learner.” Remus smiled. “Let’s get settled, eh?”

His mom proceeded to clear all the dishes and Remus worked to organize the gifts back under the tree. Sirius sat silently on the sofa watching him. Remus took the sign out of Sirius’ grip. After setting the sign on top of his trunk, he sat down next to Sirius. He put an arm around his shoulder and asked, “You’re happy?”

“So happy.” Sirius pressed his lips to Remus’ jaw a few times.

“Do you miss your family?” Remus asked quietly, taking hold of his hand. He felt bad for bringing the mood down but he knew they should talk about it. It was an important holiday and Sirius was probably longing for that connection with his brother. He didn’t like not talking about things, he did that before and that never worked out well.

“I miss Reggie. That’s it. I thought, maybe, one day I’d miss my parents but I don’t. At least not yet. That’s a good thing because they were terrible to me. Abusive.” Sirius rested his head on Remus’ shoulder. “Your friends and family are better than anything I had back home. They accept me for everything I am. I just wish I could have Regulus in my life. I would be over the moon if I had him here too.”

“Maybe one day. Have you reached out to him again?” Remus ventured.

“No, maybe I will one day but not yet. I’m afraid to tell him where I am because I don’t want it to get back from my parents. I’m afraid what might happen if they come out here. I don’t know.”

Remus nodded. He wished he could give Sirius his brother for Christmas but that wasn’t an option. He hoped Sirius was right that one day he’d reach out to his brother. Sirius needed that in his life. It was an important connection. Remus knew that even though he was an old child.

“Let’s be happy.” Sirius squeezed his hand a few times quickly. “I’m so happy right now and I don’t want to think about all that today.”

“All right. Let’s pick a movie before she comes back. She’s going to want Miracle on 34th Street but it’s not my thing. We need something cheesy and romantic.”

Sirius laughed and reached to the side table for the remote. Remus hoped that he didn’t kill Sirius’ mood completely. He wanted him to have the happiest of Christmases.

***

“This is so cool.” Harry said as he showed off his child appropriate drone. At least that’s what Sirius thought the thing looked like as the kid flew it. Sirius thought it was pretty neat but he knew that Harry was going to end up breaking something with it and Lily was not going to be happy about it.

“That is cool, Haz.” Sirius watched as Snuffles barked at it. It was the most worked up he had ever seen the dog get. He barely even reacted to Crookshanks when they were introduced.

Harry laughed and flew it out of the room. He and Snuffles went after it. Sirius stayed behind with James in the living room. Everyone else was either helping in the kitchen or still talking at the table. Harry wanted help putting his gift together so Sirius decided to join James and him.

“Are you doing okay?” James asked.

“I’m doing brilliantly.” Sirius said with a confused frown. “Why?”

“I don’t know, there was just a moment at the table that you looked down. I wanted to make sure that everything was okay for you. I’m sure it hard being here away from everything you’re used to during the holidays. No matter how much you love it here.”

Sirius was going through a lot of mixed emotions that day. In the morning he was so happy to wake up with Remus. Then when he was alone and getting ready for the morning, he started to think about his brother and how much he missed Regulus. Then he opened gifts with Remus and Hope and felt so happy to be accepted into not only this group but into both of the Lupin’s hearts. After, Remus had to go and be considerate by asking about Reg. Then he was happy again watching the movie. But as the day went on he kept thinking about his brother and what he was doing back home. It made him depressed just thinking about it all.

“It’s nothing, I just keep thinking about my brother.” Sirius shrugged. “Don’t tell Moony or he’ll think it’s his fault because he brought him up earlier. I was thinking about him before Remus even brought it up.”

“Well, I’m sure it’s normal to feel whatever you’re feeling. Your whole life is completely different and you’re not around the one person you cared about before, right? It was just you and your brother against the world for the longest time.” James reasoned.

“I guess, yeah, you’re right.” Sirius nodded. “I keep thinking about how nice it might be if he came out here with me to run the inn when I open it. He’d be good at customer service and planning. He was always really good at that stuff.”

“Then reach out to him if you want. It might make you feel better.”

Sirius had a lot to think about but he didn’t want to do it on Christmas night. His whole day was just how he imagined it would be after weeks of Christmas movies and being completely romantic with Remus. He couldn’t believe how he was living now was his life. He was waiting for it all to be pulled out from under him. Sirius wondered if Regulus being with him would make everything feel better. It would be a big step for him to reach out though.

Sirius decided he couldn’t waste the whole night being down about it. He wanted to enjoy his night with his newfound family and his beautiful boyfriend who was starting to look much like a lumberjack with his beard as the winter wore on (Sirius still found it hot, though). At the end of the night, he was sent home with another armful of leftovers, as always. Remus laughed at him because it was more than he normally got.

“Let’s spend the night at yours.” Remus suggested, fiddling with the volume on the radio.

“Sure. Are you planning on making me ice skate again? I’m not interested tonight. I want to finish what we started this morning.” Sirius laughed as Remus began to drive towards Broomhill.

“No.” Remus scoffed.

Sirius smiled, thinking about the night they spent on the pond. He felt like a bit of an idiot but he was fine with that in the presence of Remus Lupin. Remus cared for him and saw him make an idiot out of himself multiple times and didn’t care. “Why do you want to spend it at mine?”

“I like it there.” Remus shrugged. “Plus, we need to clean it before you cousins get here.”

“It’s not that messy! I knew you had an ulterior motive.”

“It’s a little messy.” Remus made a face.

“It’s fine.” Sirius waved a hand in front of his face.

“You want Andi to feel comfortable, don’t you?” Remus questioned. “I think we should make it look nice.”

Sirius smiled, happy that Remus seemed to care about the fact that the Tonks were coming to visit. He had never introduced his boyfriends to his family for obvious reasons. When he told Andi and Nym about Remus they both asked a million questions. They seemed like they were excited for him. Remus in turn was excited to meet his family. Sirius couldn’t wait for the 27th to come so it could finally happen.

“You’re not going to make me clean tonight?”

“No, tomorrow. Tonight, I am finishing what I started as you suggested.”


	14. Chapter 14

“Here, turn left, we can park in this lot.” Remus directed Sirius as they drove around Logan airport.

They were on their way to pick up Sirius’ cousin and her family up at the airport after they were going to spend that night and the following day exploring Boston before going back home to Godric’s on the 29th. The Tonks were going to be staying through the 5th of January to spend time with Sirius and get to know his new friends and the area that he was living in. Remus was looking forward to meeting these people because Andi had escaped that same terrible family that Sirius had. He wondered if she was more like Al or Sirius or something completely different. Whatever she was like, she must have loved Sirius because she had encouraged him to free himself from them.

“I miss them so much. I’m so excited to see them.” Sirius said, parking the car. “I’m so happy that you’re meeting them too. I never thought any part of my family would get to meet my boyfriend.” He leaned over and kissed Remus soundly before getting out of the car.

Remus never thought he’d be meeting anyone’s family again after everything in his past. He honestly thought that he would be alone for the rest of his life following Benjy and Nathan and that horrible brokenness he felt. Before Sirius, it made him sad to think about being alone forever sometimes but he mostly didn’t mind because he had some amazing friends. Remus didn’t start to change his thinking until he got to know Sirius more and more. Now, Remus wasn’t sure how he thought he could be happy without someone like Sirius Black in his life.

Sure, things were not completely perfect. Remus and Sirius were very different people. Yes, they had a lot in common but on many things they could be polar opposites. Remus found themselves bickering about stupid little things like the dishes or how Sirius never took his shoes off right away when they went inside. Remus figured that it was fine because it was small stuff. There wasn’t anything big that they fought over and their fights were never bad or intense. They were generally short and easily solved and reminded him of all the good couples around him.

Grabbing Sirius’ hand, Remus led him to the arrivals area of Terminal E. They were running a little late because of some traffic but looking at the board, the Tonks’ flight landed just a little while before they had got in. Remus figured they’d have at least a few more minutes to wait because they had to get through customs. “I made those reservations for that steakhouse tonight. That one that you recommended, you know? You can finally wear that nice coat I bought you! I don’t think they’ll want to do much else after traveling. Maybe we can do something romantic later?”

“Sure, we could go get a drink somewhere fancy.” Remus nodded as he watched people began to come out of the doors from customs at a steady stream. “I’m sure you’re dying now that you’re back in a city.”

Sirius laughed. “I really love being up north but I do love the city too. It’s a different energy.”

“Me too, we should make a point of traveling here and to New York a bit more.” Remus suggested as he heard someone shout Sirius’ name.

“Sirius! Sirius!” A woman, probably in her early twenties with bright pink hair was practically running at them. This had to be Nymphadora Tonks. A taller woman with long black hair and Sirius’ smile was walking behind her with a tall man with dark skin. All three pulling along a suitcase and carrying a carryon.

“Nymphie!” Sirius dropped Remus’ hand to wrap his arms around Nym once she reached them.

“It’s so nice to see you in one piece.” Andromeda spoke, setting her rolling bag down. “You must be Remus.” She grinned ear to ear as Sirius let go of Nymphadora.

“Yes, hi Mrs—”

“If you don’t call me Andi I’ll be very upset.” Andi gave him a quick hug before going to hug Sirius.

“And if you call me Mr. Tonks I might cry. So, Ted’s fine too.” Ted shook his hand with a tight grip.

“I’m Nym but I’m sure you knew that.” She laughed. “So, what are we doing? I want to see absolutely everything Boston has to offer me before we go up and freeze our tits off.”

“You’re going to freeze those off down here too.” He scoffed. “It’s nearly four so I was thinking we could just go to the hotel and you can get settled. Our reservation for dinner is at 7, so we should probably leave at 6:30 if that’s okay with you all.” Sirius explained, taking Remus’ hand again.

“Fantastic!”

They made their way back to the car and Remus choose to drive this time so Sirius could talk to his relatives without getting them into an accident. Remus happily listened to them all catch up and Sirius explain what Remus had planned for them to do over the next few days. It didn’t take them too long to get to the hotel, so their conversation was cut short but Remus was sure it would easily pick up when they went to dinner that night.

Sirius dropped their things in the entryway of their room then sighed. “It’s so nice to see them.”

“I’m sure it feels good to see your own family.” Remus took a seat on the edge of the bed and Sirius perched on the small chair by the window.

“I know they only met you for like two seconds but they like you. I can tell when the Blacks don’t like people even if they’re not terrible like my parents.”

“That’s good because I like you.” Remus held out his hand and Sirius took it. “Actually, I’m pretty certain — no I’m certain that I love you.”

Sirius laughed, scrunching up his nose. “Well, I’m wicked certain that I love you.”

Remus pulled him over to him and they both fell back onto the bed with Sirius on top of him. Remus put his hands on Sirius’ waist.

“Did I use that right? Wicked?”

“Yeah, you used wicked just fine.” Remus covered his face with kisses. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Sirius slipped his hand under Remus’ shirt.

After they showed their love for each other physically, they both showered and got ready for dinner. They went to go meet the Tonks down in the lobby of the hotel then took an Uber to the steakhouse. Remus wore the peacoat that Sirius had bought him back in November and Sirius had to point it out to the Tonks. Remus got to hear stories of little Sirius from Andi and how mischievous he was. He wished that they knew each other when they were younger. It would have been a lot of fun but maybe things would have been completely different. Probably not because it felt like they were meant to be, Remus figured. No matter what.

Sirius and Remus didn’t end up going out to drinks after because it was so freaking cold. Instead, they went back to the hotel and spent the night in bed. There would be plenty of time to show Sirius around the city and to buy him drinks another time. They were plenty romantic all the time anyhow. Plus, he could be plenty romantic in their hotel room as well.

Remus hoped that they could last and this all wouldn’t fizzle out at some point. Sometimes he worried that Sirius would get sick of New Hampshire, or even America, and move back to Singapore or England. There were so many what-ifs that pinged around in his head from time to time. Remus was going to do his best not to worry about it. Sirius loved him, so hopefully that wouldn’t happen.

***

Being home in New Hampshire with Andi, Ted, and Nym was fantastic. Even though Boston was fantastic and Remus made sure they did all the touristy things, Sirius loved being able to show the Tonks his new forever home. They all seemed to think it was brilliant. Half the time they just wanted to do snow actives likes skiing, snowboarding, tubing, snowmobiling, and ice skating. Sirius indulged even if he felt like an icicle by the end of each time.

Andi approved of his future plans for the property — inn, wedding venue, and restaurant. Nym wanted to move into the spare room. Ted suggested they open a brewery on the property. Sirius wished he could ask them to join him in New Hampshire but that seemed like a bit too much. Maybe when Andi retired from her position. He knew Ted would love it.

The first day in New Hampshire, they went over to the Potter’ for dinner with the usual attendees, including Hope. The group took them right in, just as they took in Sirius. The Tonks on their part loved them as well. After dinner they went back and Remus took them ice skating on the pond on Sirius’ property. Nym fell down a million times and Sirius clung on to Remus but it was so much fun. Sirius’ sides hurt from laughing.

The day after, they had breakfast at the diner. Nym spent most of the time flirting with Bill Weasley, who was there with three of his brothers. She seemed enchanted by the ginger and Bill seemed extremely interested in the spitfire that was Nymphadora Tonks. Andi and Ted thought it was hilarious and Remus thought it would be a good match when they talked about it later. Sirius liked the idea of them together. Once they had breakfast, and Nym was done flirting, Remus took them to some tourist spots. They ended the night at the Ice Castles in the next town over. Sirius thought he was going to freeze to death but it was interesting that it was all made out of ice.

It was finally New Year’s Eve, and Sirius was a little stressed out. He was hosting his first get together at his place since moving to New Hampshire. The Marauder’s and Co were coming over to ring in the New Year. Normally they were going to the Potters but Sirius insisted on doing it this year as a thank you to the group for everything they’ve done for him. Andi was doing her best to help him get ready but Remus, Ted, and Nym had gone out to some sugar shack with Bill and Charlie.

“It’s your first big hosting event, huh?” Andi said, as she put together a tray of veggies.

“I know that it doesn’t matter and no one will care about certain things, but I want to be able to do things for these people. They’ve done everything for me so far.”

“You care about them all, don’t you?”

“Yes, they took me under their collective wing and helped me settle in. If it weren’t for them I would have left and traveled until I found somewhere that felt like home. But this is home. It feels like home, I love it.”

“Remus feels like home?” Andi grinned.

“He is home.” Sirius muttered as he finished washing the countertops. It was sometimes overwhelming how much he loved and cared for Remus. He never felt this way for any of his old boyfriends. That was probably because they could never get too in depth because he was so deep in the closet.

“That’s the cutest thing you’ve ever said.”

Sirius shook his head as he went to pull out the bottles of champagne and alcohol they had bought the other day at the liquor store.

Soon enough Remus, Ted, and Nym were back home. They all finished getting the house ready just before their friends started to arrive. When they did, Sirius felt as if the house was about to burst at the seams. There were people everywhere that he went but they were all having a good time. Bill and Nym looked a little too cozy but Sirius thought it was cute. Hopefully neither of them would get too heartbroken when Nym had to leave in about a week. She had a job back in England with friends and a good family. There was no way she’d give that all up for Bill.

“This is wicked awesome Sirius, just think in like a year or two, we could be doing something like this in the venue on site.” Peter suggested as time ticked closer to midnight. Sirius was looking for Remus but kept getting stopped by everyone.

“That’s if we don’t have any wedding or anything.” Sirius pointed out.

“Maybe your cousins can move here and help you run it.”

“I doubt that they’d want to.” Sirius laughed, although they seemed to love the area and all the people. Andi was laughing loudly with Hope and Effie in the kitchen last he saw. Ted was chatting with Arthur, Kingsley, and Caradoc in the living room. Nym was falling head over heels for Bill Weasley. This place had some type of hold on the Blacks. Maybe that was the curse. “Have you seen Moony?”

“I think he’s outside having a cigarette. I think he’s a little drunk.” Peter shrugged with a grin.

Sirius laughed, he liked Remus a little drunk. He loosened up more than usual. “Brilliant, I’ll go find him.”

“Don’t miss the midnight kiss. It’s important to start your year off right.” Peter winked before he let Sirius move along.

Finally Sirius made it out to the front porch. Remus was smoking a cigarette, just staring out on to the property. “Hey,” He said tossing his cigarette own and stomping it out.

“Hi.” Sirius came to stand next to him. He folded his arms across himself to try to get some body heat. Remus saw this and pulled him tight against his strong body. “I thought I lost you.”

“Never.” Remus kissed the top of his head and Sirius relaxed against the other man. “It’s almost midnight.”

“It is.”

“Are you excited to start your New Year here in Godric’s with all your new friends?”

“I’m ready.” Sirius nodded. “I think it’s going to get off to a great start.”

“Agreed.”

They stood together for a few more minutes just enjoying the night until Remus pulled him inside to make sure they got to ring in the New Year with everyone. They both grabbed a glass of champagne then went to the living room. But five minutes before midnight, Gid, Fab, George, and Fred informed everyone they all needed to go out back. Sirius was worried because the four of them were never up to any good. At the same time he was interested at the same time.

“Okay, okay, so this is for Sirius and the Tonks and to celebrate the New Year. We have, thirty seconds!” Fab yelled loudly to the crowd as Gideon, Fred, and George were up to something just beyond the gazebo.

Sirius kept an arm wrapped around Remus. They began their countdown and right at “1, Happy New Year!” fireworks began to go off. Sirius laughed for a second but then Remus turned to him. “This is where the romantic interests kiss,” then the other man pulled him into his kiss.

This was going to be the best year.

***

Andi almost didn’t want to leave New Hampshire the next day. She never saw Sirius so happy before and just wanted to be around that energy all time. It was also so beautiful and she loved the snow here. Nym liked other things about it, it seemed because she was with Bill Weasley learning how to ski. She decided to go down Main Street to see Remus’ shop since she hadn’t yet. Ted and Sirius were busy playing some video game.

“Hey Andi,” Remus smiled at her as she came into the shop.

“Hi, Remus, this place is amazing. Have you made all of this?” She asked, looking at a beautiful cherry wood chair. It was a smooth modern design, it didn’t look like Remus’ typical style. It was nice though and Andi could see it in her own home.

“I have. Sirius probably thinks I spend more time here than with him.” Remus chuckled but Sirius had never complained about that before.

“Sirius always did love the artistic souls. There was a little boy who he crushed on that drew all over him once. Walburga hated that.” Andi grinned. She wanted Sirius to marry Remus and have kids and live this life for the rest of his years. His struggle to get free was so hard on him, harder than anyone realized now because he was outwardly so happy. She wondered if Remus knew how much Sirius struggled. If he did then that was good because Sirius was open with him. “Do you plan on staying around here forever?”

“I guess, yeah. I don’t see myself elsewhere. I mean, I want to travel but — Andi, is this the ‘what are your intentions’ talk?” Remus came out from behind his cash wrap.

“It is, I think. I just want him to be happy.”

“Me too.” Remus smiled. “I don’t think there’s anything in my life that I want more.”

Andi nodded, “Good, I think he wants the same for you too. I hate thinking that other people complete others because you should be a whole person yourself but I think you and Sirius compliment one another well. Don’t get married without me.”

“I wasn’t planning on getting married just yet but if it happened ever, we’d make sure you’d be here.” Remus’ cheeks pinked a little.

“Of course.” Andi knew it was far too early for them but it was a nice thought. It seemed like Remus liked the thought too with the sweet look he had on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's gonna get angsty after this, just a heads up.


	15. Chapter 15

The winter was coming to an end and Remus’ birthday was nearly here. Remus was looking forward to what 31 was going to bring because the last end of 30 was pretty phenomenal. He and Sirius had been together for just over four months now. The other man had been in his life for seven months. Remus was completely, totally in love with Sirius Black. He wondered from time to time if it was too early to propose. Really, he knew it was too early to propose but it didn’t stop him from feeling like he could do it. Remus always thought he would need at least a year with someone to make that type of choice. He probably would wait until maybe next holiday season. It did mean a lot to them plus, Remus would seem a little less crazy and it would give them more time to know one another.

Since it was getting warmer and big snowstorms were less likely, construction was underway on Sirius’ property. They had started to fix up the inn’s interior. Peter was doing measurements for the venue and restaurant space on the land. Sirius had also been conferring with the Lovegoods about what to do with his garden for when the spring rolled around. Remus was happy to see more things happening because it made him more secure that Sirius was staying put and not running off. Every so often Remus had this fear Sirius was going to go back to Singapore without him or without any word.

Those times usually went along with days that Sirius was missing his brother. Remus could always tell when his boyfriend was thinking about his brother. Sirius had reached out to Regulus after the New Year but never heard back. Over the next few months the younger Black seemed to be constantly on Sirius’ mind. Remus was sure it was mostly because the Tonks had such a great time in New Hampshire with everyone. Nym and Bill apparently had a long distance relationship now. Andi and Ted kept talking about coming out to visit again. Remus thought that because the Tonks got on so well here, then Regulus might do the same. It didn’t seem like Regulus was ever going to answer him back though. Sirius didn’t talk to him about it too much but he was going to a therapist in the town over.

But it was March. The weather was starting to turn, Remus shaved off his winter beard, and it was now maple season. Remus decided to take Sirius to Azzy’s Sugar House. Well it was Lily that suggested it because she was always up to date on things that were going on locally for the Potters to do as a family. Azzy’s was having a maple festival. There were food, demonstrations, crafts, and just different festival like things to do. Sirius loved all things maple now. Marlene declared that made him a real New Hampshirite due to this. Remus thought the only thing it made him was prone to cavities but rather sweet to kiss.

“So, it just comes out of the trees?” Sirius shook his head as they followed Lily, James, Frank, Alice, and the kids. He was looked rather in awe of the whole thing. Remus was waiting for Sirius to stop appreciating everything so much but it hadn’t happened yet.

“Yeah. Well, they do stuff to it for us to eat but basically, yeah.” Remus explained vaguely. He didn’t know the ins and outs of the maple business but he knew that New Hampshire maple was the best (fuck you, Vermont and also the all the fake maple syrup you can buy at every other store).

“That’s amazing. Who the hell looks at a tree and goes, I bet that tree has something sweet in it? Let’s tap it like a keg and put it on everything.” Sirius shook his head as they continued their tour.

“Some hungry person, I don’t know.” James shrugged. “Look! Sugar on snow. Come on, Sirius, you’ll love this.”

“What?” Sirius asked eagerly.

“They put warm maple syrup on the snow and it turns kind of into taffy. I know you’ll like that.” Remus said as they picked up their speed to keep up with James and the others. “They have a maple apple crumble with ice cream on top of it in the food vendors as well.” Remus informed his boyfriend because he knew that Sirius loved apple crisp.

Sirius eagerly ate the sugar on snow then they went for the maple apple crumble. Sirius wanted to try more food but they went on a tour of the sugar house to see the whole process. Sirius was intrigued by the whole thing. Remus was too, it was rather interesting. He found that the little things that he took for granted around him, he seemed to fall in love with it all again. Now he knew how the whole process worked.

“Last time we were at some fair thing, I wanted to kiss you like a million times. Now I can kiss you whenever.” Sirius smiled as they walked a trail through the maple trees. They weren’t with the rest of the group because Harry and Neville wanted to go play some games so they took advantage of some alone time. The day was warm enough just to wear a heavy sweatshirt and no gloves. Well, Sirius was still wearing a jacket but he didn’t have gloves on.

“Thank goodness.” Remus gave him a quick peck.

“Are you excited for your birthday?” Sirius smiled. Remus’ birthday was the following week on Sunday. He suspected that Sirius was up to some type of surprise but Remus decided not to press him about it. There was little doubt in his mind that Sirius wanted to repay him for Sirius’ own surprise birthday and he wanted to let Sirius have his fun.

“Yes.” He never liked celebrating his birthday much but he didn’t mind Sirius wanting to do something.

“What’s the one thing you wish you could have for your birthday?”

“Trying to get ideas, huh?” Remus raised an eyebrow at him.

“Come on, Moony, one thing you always wanted. I already got your gift.”

“Ha, well, I always wanted it to be warm on my birthday but it’s normally gray and cold and generally gross.” Remus scoffed. Even though spring was trying to fight it’s way in, March wasn’t the nicest month out of the year. He always wished that he had it closer to the holidays or in the middle of spring or summer. One time he had to cancel his party as a kid because of a snowstorm and at this point he was so over snow.

“That’s depressing. I don’t think I can get you a warm day. I’ve yet to be able to control the weather. There’s no place I can buy that either. Not that I wouldn’t try for you, though.” Sirius laughed.

“It’s fine, as long as you’re there and my friends and mom are there, that’s all I care about.” Remus kissed Sirius’ temple

“Good!” Sirius said then tripped over a tree root. Remus caught him easily then laughed

“Jesus Christ, you’re so fucking graceful.” He hauled Sirius up straight. “You know, I’m calling you Padfoot.”

“That makes me sound light footed.”

“It’s irony. That’s your nickname. It’s official.”

Sirius rolled his eyes.

“It’s also a pretty cute nickname.” Remus bumped their shoulders together. “Moony and Padfoot. It sort of goes together.”

“I do like the sound of that. Plus, we have Snuffles.”

“We’re just a bunch of canines.” Remus chuckled.

“Let’s not start howling at the moon.” Sirius held on to Remus as they started to walk back towards the festivities. “Can you take me hiking when it gets warmer out?”

“You want to hike? You’re not outdoorsy. This little walk is about the biggest you’ve ever done.”

“And ice skating and I learned how to drive the snowmobile.” Sirius pointed out to him with a pout.

“I’ll take you but we’ll do easy ones to start with. I don’t feel like bringing you somewhere and you breaking a leg or something in the middle of the trail.”

“You have no faith in me!” Sirius accused.

“I just know your athletic ability, Padfoot. When we ice skate, I still hold you up most of the time.”

Sirius pouted at him. “You know, that nickname use makes it hard for me to be too angry with you.”

“Great, I’ll use it as a weapon now for when you’re mad that I didn’t do the dishes.”

“Does Moony work for when I don’t take off my shoes at the front door?”

“No and we have mudrooms for reasons. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve cleaned the damn floor because of your boots this winter.” Remus lectured.

Sirius rolled his eyes. “Let’s talk about something fun. How about: would you like to maybe go see Andi, Ted, and Nym out in London?”

“I’d love that.” Remus nodded. “When?”

“I was thinking about inviting Bill too because I’m a nice cousin and want Nym to be happy. It’d be in July for Andi’s birthday.”

“That sounds great. I’d love to. I never really explored London much. I was only there for a few days.”

“Good! I’ll show you everything good in the city.” Sirius leaned into Remus. “Let’s go get some maple candy to send to the Tonks.”

“Promise not to eat it all before we get it to the Post Office?”

Sirius scoffed as if it were insane but Remus knew that it would be a struggle for a full box to make it over there. He needed to make the man a dentist appointment soon.

***

“Oh, shit, Sirius,” Remus moaned loudly, tangling his fingers in Sirius silky black hair.

Sirius picked up his pace. It didn’t too much longer for Remus to come in his mouth. Pulling back, Sirius kissed his way back up Remus’ body before landing on his lips. After a few seconds of kissing, Remus tried to put his hand down Sirius’ PJ bottoms. “Not now.” He nipped at Remus’ bottom lip and rolled away from his boyfriend. “That was a part of your birthday gift.”

“Well, that was a brilliant gift and a wonderful way to start my birthday morning.” Remus laughed deeply then yawned.

“Nap or shower, love. I’m going to make breakfast for you.” Sirius gave him another quick kiss before going off to the kitchen. He looked outside and it was raining out. Remus was happy to have done what he did for Remus’ birthday.

Sirius was determined to make Remus’ birthday his best day. Remus had surprised him on his own birthday and that was one of the best things to happen to him in recent memory. It was right up there to finally getting together with Remus. So, he wanted to make it as perfect as possible. It all started with a blowjob. Then breakfast. After breakfast they would take Snuffles on a walk (it was raining so they’d need some rain boots and an umbrella). Then they would get ready and head to Remus’ birthday. Remus had no idea about his birthday lunch but Sirius was sure the man had suspicions.

When it came time for them to get ready to go, Sirius told him they were going to lunch with his mom. Remus seemed to believe it but Sirius had a feeling Remus knew that others would be there. Remus had no clue where they were heading but he couldn’t exactly hide it when they pulled into the gardens. There was a nice greenhouse that Sirius choose to have the lunch in. If he couldn’t actually get nice weather, this was the next best thing.

“So, I told you I wanted a warm birthday.” Remus laughed as Sirius parked. “You went and got me a warm birthday.”

“Of course I got you a warm birthday, how couldn’t I give you one? It’s all you really wanted.” Sirius leaned over and kissed him before hopping out of the car. “Come on.”

Remus followed Sirius into the flower filled greenhouse. The air was warm and humid, making Sirius feel right at home after a cold, dry winter. In the middle of it were multiple wrought iron tables with matching chairs. Around it were the Marauders and Company. They all were shouting “happy birthday!” at Remus.

“I know this isn’t too surprising but I hope you like it.” Sirius held on to his hand lightly.

“I love it.” Remus turned to Sirius and pulled him into a slow kiss. “I love you. Thank you, Sirius. This is wonderful.”

Lunch was filled with the typical laughter and conversation of the group. The food was so good but the best part to Remus was the cake, which Hope had made. Double chocolate with chocolate chips and chocolate frosting. Sirius could barely eat it, it was so rich. But Remus loved it and that was all that mattered.

“Before we all go, I just wanted to say something.” Remus stood up as the meal began to wind down.

Sirius looked up at him with a smile. He couldn’t believe this man was his. He couldn’t believe the people around him were his mates as well. It all almost felt like a dream, as if he were in some alternate world and it didn’t belong to him.

“I just wanted to thank you all for coming and for helping Sirius because I know this was all his idea.” Remus said and everyone laughed. “This has been the best birthday in recent memory, mainly because I don’t celebrate because I’m a boring person according to you all. But I’m glad Sirius doesn’t realize that because he loves me and apparently love is blind. Or maybe we shouldn’t tell him that I am and he’d never figure it out.”

More laughter filled the air.

“This is going to be a good year.” Remus said with a sigh.

Once they packed up Remus’ gifts, they drove back to Sirius’ house on Broomhill. Remus kept leaning over to kiss his neck and he had a nice grip on his upper thigh. But thoughts of getting Remus into bed to have a wonderful finish to the day quickly evaporated from his brain when he saw a black car sitting in the driveway. His stomach dropped. Sirius didn’t have to see who was inside it to know who would bring all this drama with them.

“Who on earth is that? The Tonks come back out all ready to surprise us? Are they apart of my birthday gift?” Remus chuckled.

“I don’t think so.” Sirius undid his seatbelt.

“Why?” Remus asked as the door opened and a woman with a tight bun got out.

“That’s my mother.” Sirius took a deep breath. “Shite, I knew this would happen one day.”

“Sirius, why don’t we just go to mine? I’ll tell her to fuck off for you if you want.” Remus offered.

“No, ah, I should talk to her.” He shook his head as Regulus got out of the other side of the car. “And him.”

“That’s Reg?”

Sirius nodded. “Remus, I think it’s best if you went home. I don’t want this to be more than it is.”

Remus protested but Sirius eventually got him to agree after a few minutes of back and forth. Remus knew that it wasn’t a good idea for Sirius to talk to them but Sirius knew that he had to. Remus wasn’t controlling, so Sirius was going to do as he pleased.

Sirius got out of the car after giving Remus a kiss and a hug goodbye. “Mother, what are you doing here?” He asked her in Malay.

“Your father is dead, Sirius. You need to come home now.”

Sirius furrowed his brow as he heard the car door close behind him. There was a long pause before the Remus finally dove away. In that time, Sirius tried to process what she had just said. He wasn’t sad that his father was dead, he probably should have been but there was nothing there. He was more concerned with Regulus. His brother was always trying to make their father love him.

“I can’t come home. I am home here.” Sirius finally spoke as Remus drove up Broomhill in his car. Sirius gestured to the house that he grew to call his home very quickly.

His mother laughed. She probably thought that anything less than a 100 million dollar mansion was not worth it. “Let’s go inside and talk.”

Sirius’ eyes went over to his brother. Regulus looked worn out and sad. He felt immediately protective of him again even if Sirius was angry that he hadn’t heard from him since he left. There were probably many reasons why Reggie didn’t reach out and Sirius could understand most of them. “Fine.” He gritted his teeth. He wished he let Remus stay because he felt like he needed him now. Sirius also felt like someone was clawing at his insides from the anxiety he was feeling.

In the house, his mother looked around in disgust. She clearly couldn’t believe her heir and eldest son was living this way. Not that there was anything wrong with how he was living. It was perfect for him. Sirius had everything he could ever need there. He led them to the kitchen to sit at the table. He needed a glass of water.

“I've got the jet ready to go in Boston for when you’re all set to go. It shouldn’t take you long to pack.”

“Mother, my whole life is here. It’s not as if I can just up and leave it.”

“Your whole life is back in Singapore. You up and left that months ago. What’s the difference? What is the matter with you? I knew you weren’t so bright but this is ridiculous.” She huffed. “Your father is dead and someone needs to run the business.”

“Regulus can!” Sirius shouted then bit his lip. “He’s always been the spare, that’s what you said. Pretend that I was killed tragically. I’m sure that you had a lovely little lie for everyone back there. What was it?”

“She didn’t lie. She said that you moved out of the country to sew your oats as they say.”

“I’m not sewing oats. I’m living here, starting a business, making real friends, and falling in love.” Sirius snapped at his brother.

“Oh, right, with some local boy, I assume. Was that him in the car? If you want to be gay you can do that at home. I don’t care, as long as you don’t go flaunting it. You can certainly do better than some farmer.”

“He’s not a farmer, he’s a woodworker. A furniture designer. He’s sold his stuff to celebrities and studied in — you know, I don’t have to qualify his importance in the world. I love him. I’d love him if he were a farmer. I have some friends who are farmers.” Sirius bit his lip.

“That’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever said. You’re coming home, Sirius, that’s it.”

“Why can’t Regulus do it?”

“You’re a better businessman. Plus, I’ll make your life here a living hell. I’m sure there’s a way for me to stop building on this property. I doubt all the local townspeople love it. I can give them some financial support to stop it from being built.” She said with the same venom that used to frighten him as a child. He wished that it still didn’t scare him.

“How did you find me?” Sirius asked instead of giving an answer about coming back. He knew his mother wasn’t lying about making his life a living hell.

“I always knew Alphard bought this godforsaken place. I had a feeling that he would leave you these things. He liked you best, probably something twisted, I’m sure.”

Sirius felt his blood boil but he just closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He thought about it in his worst nightmares but now it was true.

For the next two hours his mother bargained and yelled and belittled him and Regulus. For two hours, Sirius took it. Then she declared she was tired and went off to find a proper room to sleep in. Sirius fell into the chair next to his brother. He felt like absolute shite. All he wanted was for Remus to wrap his arms around him and tell him it would be okay.

“You have to come back, Sirius. It’s the only thing that makes sense.” Regulus pleaded with him. “I can’t run the company alone.”

“Then don’t, come to live here too with me. Hell, you can have the whole house and I’ll live with Remus. It’s not a big deal.”

“You know she’ll ruin you, right? She’ll make your life a living hell just like she said. If you come home it won’t be so bad. She’ll let you date whoever. She even said it.”

“I’m in love, Reg. I’m not going to date whoever when I have someone important here.” He shook his head. “Plus, I’m so in love with not just Remus but this place and all these people in it. I was never happy until I came here. Now I don’t know how to be happy without it.”

Regulus rubbed his eyes. “I need you to come home, Sirius, please. I can’t do this on my own. I miss you.”

Sirius wanted to say no but he knew that Regulus was right. His mother would ruin his life. He also knew that Regulus needed him, even if he could deal with whatever hell his mother brought his way. “I need some time to figure this all out. I need to talk to Remus.”

“I can get her to wait.” Regulus said confidently. “But please, come home.”

Sirius knew what he needed to do, but he knew that he needed to see Remus first. He was sure that he could never say no to Reggie and he would always let is mother intimidate him. Sirius wasn’t as strong as Remus told him he was. He wasn’t confident or kind. He wasn’t even that smart. He fooled everyone here into thinking he was something that he wasn’t. Now it was time for him to go home and fix things.

Maybe this place was cursed.


	16. Chapter 16

About four hours after his mother and brother arrived in Godric’s, Sirius stood on the front steps of Remus’ house with tears in his eyes. He hated that he would do anything for his brother. But he couldn’t leave him to hurt any longer and he knew that his mother’s threats weren’t empty. Maybe one day he could come back but he needed to go back to Singapore for now. Or maybe Remus would want to move with him. He said before that he wouldn’t mind going away for a year or so.

Before he even knocked, Remus opened the door. “Why didn’t you call? I would have picked you up.” He grabbed Sirius’ hand and pulled him against his strong body.

“I needed the walk to think about things.” Sirius said as the tears came down his cheeks

“Come on, let’s not cry on the front porch. You know how everyone gossips.” Remus basically carried him into the living room where Snuffles was sprawled on the floor. He perked up when he saw Sirius but didn’t move from his spot. “Do you want some tea? I feel like you need tea.”

Sirius nodded.

“I’ll bring some tissues too.” Remus kissed his forehead.

Sirius tried to breathe deeps as he listened to Remus in the kitchen. He probably thought that Sirius had a big fight with his mother and brother and was going to be staying here no matter what. He really didn’t know how weak Sirius was. How easily he gave into his mother. How easily he would drop his whole life for his baby brother. How he was about to break Remus’ heart soon. He needed to stay. He had to stay, right? But it felt completely impossible to do.

“Here you go.” Remus dropped the box of tissues on to the side table that he been carrying under his arm then handed Sirius the mug of tea.

Sirius held the cup between his hands, letting it burn his skin as Remus sat down next to him. He set the tea down then took a tissue and wiped his tears, trying to figure out what to say and how to say it. Remus looked hesitant, as if he was unsure of what to say or do himself. Sirius hated when Remus didn’t know what to do because it always felt like Remus had the solution in his back pocket.

After a few moments of silence, Sirius cleared his throat. He figured he should just come out with it. “I have to go back to Singapore.”

Remus shook his head. “You don’t, though. Sirius, you have the free will to do as you please. The money and property here are yours, legally she’s not able to touch it. You don’t have to do what she says. You’re not a child any longer. You’re not even tied to her by money.”

“You don’t know my mum.” Sirius’ voice cracked. He had told Remus a lot about his childhood, the other man did know plenty.

“I know enough about her that I know whatever she said is just some threatening bullshit. I know that Regulus probably looked you like a sad puppy who needed a home.” Remus stood up and began to pace between the telly and the fireplace. Snuffles looked up at him and his eyes followed Remus’ movements. “You don’t have to listen to her.”

“Even if I don’t, Regulus needs me.”

“Regulus can move here if he needs you to watch over him so bad. It’s not up to you to make everyone happy. This right now isn’t even about hurting me. It’s about the fact that you’re going to be torn apart again.” Remus shook his head. “You’re going to leave everything you’ve built here — everything you are BUILDING here for what? To go back and fulfill some bullshit that you are being made to feel obligated to do? This is fucking ridiculous.”

“Remus stop, please.” Sirius shook his head.

“No, Sirius, I won’t because you need to see that you don’t have to go back. You’re safe here. You’re loved here. You have great friends. You have a wonderful home. You’re going to have your own business soon enough. What’s going to happen when you go back?”

“I don’t know.” Sirius scrubbed his hands over his face. “If I don’t go back, I’ll be terrified here. I’ll be worrying the whole time about what she’s going to do. I don’t want her to hurt you or anyone else here.”

“What about when you go back there? How are you going to feel? Sirius, you were severely depressed when you were back in Singapore. You can’t go back to that. You can’t honestly think you’re going to find happiness back there.”

Sirius shook his head. He knew that it wasn’t going to be great, whatever he felt back home but he knew that it would be worse if he stayed. He would worry about Remus and his business and his whole livelihood. At least in Singapore everyone else would be okay. Regulus would be happy to have Sirius back. His mother would leave Remus and his mates alone. Maybe he could leave the inn and everything to someone here or maybe Andi and Ted would come and run it. “I need to go back.”

“Why are you doing this? Sirius, you have so much to offer here.” Remus asked with tears in his eyes. Sirius had never seen Remus cry in the time they were together. Even when the other man was talking about all of his past pain, Remus was stoic. He always was able to tell his story with strength and just a glint of a tear. Sirius was the one who always ended up a blubbery mess. Now Remus was standing there crying because Sirius was breaking his heart to pieces.

“I have this obligation to my family. No matter how terrible they are, it’s been left to me. My father died and I’m the one that’s supposed to run the business. It’s on me.”

Remus wiped his face with his hands. “But you’re going to back and be miserable. You told me all the gory details about your life before and how terrible it was. You were so depressed but since you’ve settled in here you’ve been so happy. This doesn’t even have anything to do with me. You were happy before we got together. You belong here, with or without me. Preferably with me.” Remus sniffled.

“Remus, I’m sorry.” Sirius said, trying not to sob. He grabbed another tissue. “I love you. If you wanted you could come with me and—”

“No.” Remus said firmly. “I won’t even think of it because I’m not going into the closet. I’m not playing second fiddle. I won’t watch you go out to events with women that your mother set you up with. I won’t watch you work long hours in a job you hate. I won’t sit in the apartment just to argue with you when you come home. I can’t do that. No matter how fucking miserable I’ll be when you leave then I’d be a million times more miserable there. Just like you’re going to be.”

Sirius stood up, trying not to feel so small anymore. He wished that he could stand up against his mother but he couldn’t. “I’m sorry that I can’t do this for you.”

“Sirius, you’re — I know why you’re doing this. Your mother is a terrible person who can manipulate the shit out of you apparently. You’re also worried about your bother and you’d probably die for him. I can’t… I don’t want to be angry with you because I know this has nothing to do with me. I know you’re not cheating on me with anyone. I know that you’re not leaving just because this fizzled out. You’re just not able to see past all the shit. You did for a while and you left but it all came crashing down the minute she stepped out of the car.”

“I don’t want to leave you Remus.” Sirius said as the other man wrapped his arms around him. He sighed as he let himself be embraced by the larger man. He felt so safe there in his arms. “I love you and I want to marry you but —”

“Now’s not the time, Sirius. Don’t say anything else because you’re not going to be able to take it back and it’s just going to hurt the both of us more.” Remus held on to him tight. “I don’t want you to leave, Sirius. I want you to stay right here with me, please.”

Sirius didn’t say anything as they stood there in the middle of the living room for what felt like ages. He didn’t want to let go because he was sure if he did then it would all be over. Sirius was sacrificing everything again for his family. Why couldn’t he stand up and say no? Why couldn’t he put Remus first? Hell, why couldn’t he put himself first?

Eventually Remus stepped back and told Sirius to finish his tea, which had gone cold. He made him a new cup and Sirius drank it quietly as he snuggled Snuffles. When he was finished Remus insisted on driving back to the house on Broomhill. Remus barely said more than three words to him after their conversation. He didn’t even say goodbye or respond to Sirius’ kiss before Sirius got out of the truck.

It was just all over.

Back inside the house, Sirius decided that he should start packing. His mother wouldn’t waste any time but Sirius hoped he had one more day. He hoped Reg could convince her because he wanted to say goodbye to everyone. He knew that it would be hard but he owed it to these people to pay them some gratitude, even if Sirius was basically smacking them in the face now.

***

The next day, everyone was texting Sirius except for Remus. They were all asking him a million and two questions about what was going on because Remus had told James and of course it spiraled out into the rest of the group. They were all so interconnected and knew each other’s business. It was determined that Sirius was going to get a going away dinner at the Potter’s that night because there was no way he could leave without one. He knew that it was probably going to be a ploy to get him to stay in the Hollow.

Thankfully, his mother decided to stay at some fancy hotel near Mount Washington so he didn’t have to see her for the day. She told him that he had 24 hours then they would be headed back to Boston to fly home to Singapore. Regulus joined her as well at the hotel. So, he was free to finish packing and saying his goodbye. Sirius texted Remus asking if he’d look after Crookshanks and he got back a simple ‘yes, I’ll get her when you leave’. Nothing more.

He couldn’t believe it was all happening so fast. It was the opposite of how he felt and what he had done to come over to New Hampshire. He hated going backwards but it felt like this was his only option. Sirius finished packing the got himself together before going over to Effie and Monty’s. Sirius wasn’t sure when his car was put back by Remus but it was there in his driveway. He assumed the man drove over after dropping Sirius home in his truck again with his car then walked home. That sounded like a Remus thing to do.

He was having a hard time thinking about his life not seeing the mountains like this. Everything was beginning to wake up now slowly it was March. The trees were going to blossom and he was going to miss it. He wasn’t going to get the chance to go hiking with Remus in the spring and summer. He was going to miss bonfires with his friends. He was going to miss seeing Neville, Harry, and Ron’s band performance they were excited about at the end of the school year. He wasn’t going to see his property built up. He was going to miss a lot of things. Sirius was going to go back to the nothingness that he had suffered through for years.

Sirius parked in the Potter’s driveway, thinking about his first meal with them. They were so welcoming and inviting. They took him right in and made his life so easy. His life would be completely different without these people in it. He was going to go back to all those people who only cared about him because he had something to give them. The Marauders were nothing like that. He was going to miss that feeling.

“Hi, hun,” Effie said with a sad smile as she opened the door. “Are you all right?”

“Ah, yeah. I’m just — I’m okay. I’m sorry that I’m leaving.” He let Effie lead him inside.

“Don’t be sorry to me.” It was much more of a solemn affair than he was used to with these friends of his. Remus wasn’t there, and neither was Hope. He was sure that Hope didn’t show because she didn’t want Remus to think she was taking Sirius’ side or something along those lines. He couldn’t blame her.

They all wanted him to stay but they all told him that they understood why he needed to go. They all encouraged him to take care of business then come back home. Except for James. James looked like he wanted to murder him. Someone was hurting his best mate again. Sirius completely understood where he was coming from.

Eventually James caught him alone in the kitchen when Sirius went to go get another beer. “Look,” James had his hands on his hips. “I’m trying wicked hard to be cool about all this. I understand that things are messed up and shit but — Remus is… it’s a miracle that he dated you in the first place. Not because he’s better than you or whatever but with all the shit…”

“I know, James. I fucked up. I’m fucking up big time but I can’t stay.” Sirius said, feeling as if he was going to cry once again.

“Then how can you leave him? I think you loved him a lot.”

“I do. I love him so much that it hurts more than anything to leave him.”

“Then stay. We’ll figure things out. We’re all here to help you out. Man, haven’t you figured out that we all have your back no matter what. Fuck, Regulus can live in my damn basement if that’s what it will take. Actually no, he should live at mom and dad’s. They have a big room for guests.”

Sirius chewed on his bottom lip. “It won’t work, James.”

“Would you come back? If you can fix things somehow at home, would you come back?”

“If I even came back, he wouldn’t take me.” Sirius shook his head. “Would he?”

“He loves you.”

Sirius knew that Remus loved him but Remus had fancied him for the longest time before they got together. Remus took forever to come around because of what happened in his past. Now part of that past was happening all over again. It was all Sirius’ fault and he couldn’t do anything about it. Well, he could but he was a coward. “I know and I love him too. I would marry him but I don’t think it can happen.”

“Please, stay, Sirius. Please.” James pleaded. “You are a Marauder. You even have a nickname now. You belong with us.”

“I’m sorry James.” Sirius sniffled. He was so sick of crying but he knew that it was just the start of it all. “I’m so sorry.”

“You’re always welcomed back here.” James said with a nodded. “Even if I want to murder you right now you can come home and I won’t punch you in the face or anything. I’ll even talk to Moony.”

Sirius would have laughed but he didn’t have much humor left in his body. He felt like he had nothing left in the tank. He wanted to go home to the inn and sleep one last night in his bed.

***

Remus sat at the end of the bar, staring into the bottom of his glass. He had lost count a few back, not that it mattered. The Potter’s were having a going away party for Sirius but he couldn’t bring himself to deal with whatever was going on there. He hoped that everyone would manage to change Sirius’ mind but he knew that it was doubtful. Sirius was too wrapped up in the lies that his mother told him. He also protected his brother too much. He just wished that Sirius loved him just as much if not more than that.

“There you are.” James’ voice startled him but didn’t surprise him. He knew the man would come looking if he didn’t show up to the party eventually. Remus wasn’t sure how he was supposed to go there to say goodbye to Sirius. They had already cut their ties the other day. He couldn’t face him again.

“It’s happening all over, Prongs.” Remus shook his head.

“He’ll be back. I know he will. He doesn’t want to go, Moony. It’s different.”

Remus felt the tears welling in his eyes. “I hate this so much. I hate him right now.”

“I know. Why don’t you come to ours tonight? Harry is staying with the Weasleys with Ron and Neville. We can have ourselves a good old pity party.”

“All right.” Remus rubbed his face. He couldn’t think of spending the night alone. He hadn’t spent a night alone since just after Thanksgiving. Remus also wasn’t sure he could handle the silence tonight.

James patted his back. “It will be okay, we got you.”

Remus took a deep breath. He knew it would be eventually but he needed time. He was sure now that he couldn’t let anyone else in like that again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sad after reading this? Go read Lost and Found, that's nice and fluffy!


	17. Interlude: Try

Sirius had been back in Singapore for three weeks. He logged on to some live streams of different monuments or mountains in New Hampshire to see the beauty he was missing. But he tried not to contact his New Hampshire friends because he knew it would make things worse for him. He missed them more than he missed anyone before. He was aching for Remus. It was like someone had carved a hole into his chest. Remus was the only one who didn’t contact Sirius and he was okay with that. He knew that Remus was probably hurting just as much, if not more than Sirius.

Life in Singapore was a dull thrum. He went about his business with as little effort as possible. Sirius was not even sure how he was functioning or how the business was still even standing with how he was making his decisions. He hated his mother but went to dinner with her every week because Regulus asked him to go with him. Sirius pretended to be happy with his “mates” in Singapore. He only spent any time with them because he couldn’t stand drinking alone. They were also another distraction for him.

Since coming back to Singapore, Sirius had been debating on what to do with his property back in New Hampshire. He told Arthur to continue with construction on the guest house but pause on the venue and restaurant. The Lovegoods were still working on the gardens too. He knew that he needed to hand the property over to someone else so it would be taken care of. There were a few people that he trusted with it but he knew three people that would enjoy it the most.

“Andi,” Sirius said trying his best to sound happy. He knew that she would hear right through it but he thought he should at least give it a try.

“Sirius, are you doing all right? I haven’t heard from you since you went back. I only know you’re back in Singapore because of Bill. I thought you were done. How could you do this?”

“Andi, I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

She huffed a breath, “Okay, so why did you call? Is something happening? What do you need?”

“I want to offer you all the property on Broomhill.”

The line went silent for a moment. Sirius thought the connection had been lost until she laughed. “Really?”

“I know you, Ted, and Nym would take care of it and it needs love that you all can give it. I promised I’d do something with it. Al left it then I left it. Someone needs to see it through and you’re the last Black left to do that.”

Andi laughed. “We all have jobs here.”

“I know but I also know that you’ve been thinking about retiring because you want a change of pace. Ted would love it. Nym’s in love with Bill so she’d follow you across the ocean. It’s not as if it’s completely strange for you to do this.”

And laughed again. “You’re being honest about this? You want us to do this?”

“Of course I am. You’d be a good fit there.”

“I don’t know, Sirius.” She sounded like she was drumming her fingers on the table as she thought.

“Think about it. Talk to Ted and Nym.” Sirius looked at the time. He had a meeting to get to in five minutes. “I need to get going, Andi. But let me know and I’ll sign it over to you.”

“I’ll think about it but I’m not sure.”

Sirius hung up. He hoped getting rid of the property would help him move on. He’d have no more ties.

***

Nym could not believe her mother said yes to Sirius about taking over the Inn in New Hampshire. It was like some dream. It had been over three months since Sirius left it now but the construction was going strong. The back garden was beautiful. The guest house was standing tall and so much more stately than it had looked when she was in town last. Nym couldn’t wait to help out getting the business going. She only wished that Sirius could be there too.

“You’re here!” Bill called as she arrived at the bonfire at Marlene and Dorcas’. They were holding it to welcome her back. She couldn’t stand how happy she was and couldn’t understand how Sirius could walk away from this all. Everything just felt good here. The people were good, the air was good, the land was good — it was amazing.

“I’m here!” Nym let her self be picked up in Bill’s embrace. When he put her down, she caught Remus’ eye across the fire as Dorcas handed her a drink.

She wanted to run over and hug him but thought that might have been a bit odd. He probably couldn’t disconnect her from her cousin. Sirius fucked that all up. They were so cute and in love back in December. Nym wanted to go to Singapore and smack some sense into her cousin but knew it wouldn’t solve a thing.

***

Remus wanted to hate Bill and Nym but they were so cute it was impossible to hate them. It was now September and two lovebirds were engaged. It seemed way too fast for Remus but he didn’t want to judge. They knew each other about the same amount of time Remus knew Sirius before he left and he was thinking about proposing.

“They’re too precious.” Andi shook her head. They were standing in the garden of Sirius’ property, now the Tonks’, where they were having an engagement party.

“Yeah, I know.” He nodded. “Are you happy?”

“Oh, yeah, I can’t wait to be mother of the bride. I mean, I don’t have to worry about a venue or anything. It’s all going to be done right here. The dress is going to be the headache because she can never make a choice.”

Remus laughed, that sounded like Nym… it also sounds a bit like Sirius. Nymphadora was like a little ball of energy with ever-changing hair. She was very different from Sirius in most ways but sometimes she did things that were very Sirius-like.

“Sirius will come to the wedding. He’d have to lie to Walburga but that’s never stopped him before. He lied to her to come out to my wedding a million years ago.”

“How long have you been thinking about weaving him into a conversation with me?” Remus was shocked it had taken this long.

“Since I landed. Well, probably before that.” Andi furrowed her brow in thought. “He belongs here. I don’t know what it is about this place or what Al felt but it is where home is for us orphaned Blacks. He found you here just like Nymphadora found Bill. Who knows, maybe Reggie would find someone too.”

Remus had been hurting since Sirius left. It had gotten better but there was still some sting when he thought about the other man. Sirius had told him that he’d never leave New Hampshire but it barely took anything for him to take off. Sirius confessed he thought about proposing when they were arguing that last night. Remus didn’t think it was fair for Sirius to throw that around then break his heart.

***

James sat with Lily, Alice, Frank, and Peter as the engagement party was dying down. “You know, I thought that this would be Remus and Sirius right now?”

“No, that would have been a winter proposal. They were lovebirds all fucking winter last year. They were made for the season.”

“Now Remus is just going to have a cold bed come October.” Lily sighed, watching their friend talk to Andi. “What do you think she’s saying?”

“Probably trying to get him to go back to Sirius. I finally got Sirius on the phone the other day and he still sounded miserable. At least Remus isn’t completely miserable. He spent a month moping but now he’s just back to his pre-Sirius self.” James reasoned.

“Sirius is miserable because of the situation he’s in.” Alice reminded them all.

“I want to pull him out of that situation. By his hair.” Peter scoffed.

“Don’t tempt me.” James said.

Something had to break with Sirius. He didn’t know what it would take.


	18. Chapter 18

Sirius stared across the table at his brother. They were out to eat after a long day or nothingness. Sirius hated him. It was nearly November now. His birthday was coming but he wasn’t excited about it. The only thing on his mind was how different his life was a year ago and how happy he was then. He and Remus were slowly falling for one another before getting swept up in the wave of love and affection that came with the winter for them. But now, he had nothing. He didn’t even have one good friend. He wasn’t counting Regulus because the more he thought about it, the more he resented his brother.

Regulus was staring at his menu with his tongue sticking half out of his mouth like he was deep in thought. Sirius felt like he was past his breaking point for no other reason than he couldn’t feel the change in the seasons and no one had their places decorated for Halloween. No one was excited about the winter. No one was getting ready for Thanksgiving. People were not winterizing their cars or their homes. He didn’t have anyone growing out a winter beard. He couldn’t get apple and maple flavors everywhere. He didn’t have a small cat or large dog or man to snuggle up with when the nights were cold.

“I can’t do this anymore.” Sirius said bluntly. He felt like his sanity was beginning to fray. Even seeing his therapist was doing nothing for him. He needed to get out of Singapore. Sirius needed to be happy again. He didn’t care if his mother followed through on his threats any longer. “Regulus I’m so fucking unhappy here. I can’t do it anymore. I don’t give a shite what will happen now because if I stay here any longer I’m going to go crazy.”

Reg frowned then laughed darkly. “I was wondering when you’d break down. You know, you never talk to me about this stuff? I don’t know how you feel.”

“I know because you’re just as great as I am mentally. I couldn’t burden you.”

“Stop holding yourself together for me. I’m a big boy. You don’t have to protect me any longer, Sirius.”

“Then why did you beg me to come back here?” Sirius snapped at him, clenching his hand into a fist on top of the table. He wanted to hate his brother in that moment but he understood why Regulus was the way he was. “I was happy before in New Hampshire and I came back here mainly for you. I don’t even know — I don’t even know how I feel because I feel nothing. Well, right now I’m fucking angry with you but outside of that, nothing.”

“I was being selfish. You’re always there to protect me and I was so scared. Now, I know it was a giant mistake but I didn’t know what to do because you didn’t talk to me about it. What can I do to fix it?”

“We could have stayed in New Hampshire when you came out with mother.” Sirius shook his head. “We could have figured it all out then. It would have been a lot fucking easier.”

“You just gave in though. You can’t blame me for all of that.” Regulus complained.

“I’ve never been able to say no to you. I don’t even want to know what shite I would do for you if you asked.. All I’ve ever done my whole life is protect you, you’ve said it yourself.” Sirius dropped his voice and leaned across the table. “I protected you from mother and father, from the boys at school, and from yourself. I took the fall for you for that dumb prank you pulled in school. I nearly was expelled, if you happen to remember that.”

Regulus shook his head, “I’ve never asked you to do that. You did it all on your own.”

“Because you’re a fucking wreck all the time. You’re so anxious and I was so scared for you.” Sirius stood up. “I can’t eat. I need to walk.” Sirius left some money on the table for the drinks they had ordered and headed off.

Regulus followed after him. “Sirius, if you want to go back then go back. I wish that you didn’t need to protect me because I feel like shite about this. Let’s get out of here, Sirius.”

“How?” Sirius questioned as they hastily left the restaurant.

“We sell the company to the Malfoys. They want it. They’d probably do anything for it. They thought they were going to get it after father died anyway because you were off and everyone thinks I’m fucking incompetent or something. I had better marks than you in school if anyone was curious. Anyway the sale will leave mother with enough money to be filthy rich until she dies. She doesn’t even need it with her inheritance but you know how she is.”

Sirius furrowed his brow in thought. “Why didn’t you just tell me this to begin with back in New Hampshire? This could have all been avoided. Instead I’ve been miserable for eight fucking months.”

“I don’t know, Sirius. I’m a coward, okay?”

Sirius wanted to punch his brother but just took a deep breath instead. Sirius was a coward too. He couldn’t be too hypocritical. “So, we sell the company. Then what are you going to do? Are you coming with me back to New Hampshire? You’re not going to be able to stay here.”

“Yes, sure, why not. It was nice enough.” Regulus shrugged. “I’ll stay there until I figure things out. I can help you and the Tonks run the inn and shite until it’s all sorted. I can move on to wherever I please after, as long as I keep a little money from the sale for myself.”

Sirius stopped in the middle of the pavement. “You’re not just having me on, are you? I’m not going to build my hopes up, move my life again, and just end up back here, am I?”

“No, you’re not. I’m doing this for you because you’ve done everything for me, Sirius.” Regulus looked completely sincere. “You love him, Remus, right? You never talk about him but you were so upset that night when you came back from talking to him. I don’t understand how you didn’t stay out there even if it was just for him. I know you care about me but I don’t understand how you did that.”

“Because I’m an idiot who listened to you and to our bitch of a mother instead of staying with the man of my dreams and the best mates anyone on the planet could ask for.” He stepped back against the wall of some shop so he wasn’t standing in the middle of foot traffic any longer.

“I’ll go talk to Malfoy about selling. He’ll be eager to accept. I’ll make sure it’s worth it. I need to get the lawyer involved too. I have to make sure this stays quiet until we take care of everything.” Reggie took out his phone.

“Really? Right now?”

“I’m not wasting any more time. I’m taking the leap you took last year. You’re going to have to take it again too but I think it will be easier for you than me.”

Sirius knew that his friends would take him back in an instant but there was a certain tall, strong, sneakily romantic, sarcastic bloke who he worried about. He knew that was not going to be an easy battle to fight. Remus’ heart was broken in the same sort of way that it was before. He had trusted Sirius enough to open up.

“It’s not going to happen overnight, we have to do all the fun legal shite. first We should have it all done before we even tell Mother.”

“Agreed.” Sirius nodded with his brother. He didn’t understand how people didn’t think that Regulus was smart. He could be brilliant. “Once we do and it’s all taken care of, we’re out of here. I’m still going to start packing.” He couldn’t help it. Sirius could see the light at the end of all this. He was going to be free, once and for all.

***

Remus cursed himself as he pulled a splinter from his finger. He was starting to work on his Christmas gifts since it was fast approaching now. There was one week before Thanksgiving but he had been working on gifts for weeks now. Sometimes he wished he would just buy gifts for people but he preferred to make things for others most of the time. Especially for those he really loved and cared for.

It was Friday so he was meant to be at the Potter’s for dinner. He hadn’t liked going much since Sirius left. He hadn’t liked doing much since in the area since the other man left. Everything reminded him of the Sirius. Even the first snowfall meant nothing to him. It had been eight months now and Remus was less bitter as each week passed but he still missed him probably the same amount as the day that he left. The whole that he felt was carved out was nearly healed but it would never be complete again.

“Come on, Moony.” James came bursting into the door of the shop along with a gust of wind.

“I’m just finishing up.” Remus checked his finger one more time to make sure that he got out the whole splinter. He bit the skin trying to take the mind off of the original pain of the splinter.

“You know, they say it’s going to snow Thanksgiving night? Aren’t you excited?” James went around the shop to shop off the lights. “That’s your first night of Christmas movies so it’s nice and fitting. You’ll be all cozy in your living room with Snuffles.”

Remus’ heart sank. It had snowed the night of Thanksgiving last year. He and Sirius had spent the night cuddled on the sofa and a few days later they finally got together because of the stupid roof falling in. Except he was thankful that the roof fell in because he got to spend more time with Sirius and he finally found the courage to ask him out. Remus felt like he was in complete bliss all last winter. He got to experience everything new again with Sirius. It was the happiest time of his life. He wanted to feel that way again.

Thinking about feeling that was again was terrifying. It took him years to be able to accept love from someone else. He doubted that he could let it happen again.

“That’s great, about the snow.”

“The Tonks and Bill will be joining us for Thanksgiving.”

“They’re not going with the extended clan somewhere?”

“No, Bill always hated going to those things. My mother, Hope, and Andi are like BFFs now anyhow.” James shook his head.

“Bill is such an introvert.” Remus nodded. “Not that the Potters are quiet.”

“Ha, yeah, man like you and Hope are wallflowers. He’s marrying Tonks who’s off the fucking wall and Andi talks just as much.”

“But Ted’s pretty chill.” Remus pointed out to him.

“Come on, I’ll drive you to the house.” James said after a beat.

Remus grabbed his things then shut the store down for the night. He was ready to go home and sleep for the rest of the night but he could never turn down dinner. No matter how much he thought of Sirius or no matter how tired he was. Everyone would think he was extremely depressed. He was not extremely depressed but for some reason his body was having a hard time adjusting to the fact it was pitch black at 5 pm every day. It was just one of those years, he figured. It happened.

“What would you do if he came back?” James asked Remus when they were in the car headed to the Potters.

“That’s an abrupt and strange question.” He raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t get your hopes up because I’m just asking. I haven’t heard much from him since he left.” James shrugged a shoulder.

“Then why are you asking? It’s not like he’s going to materialize him if I wanted him to. Believe, he would have already.”

“Because I know you were just bumming out because last winter things were a lot different for you. You had a ring on your brain by January.”

Remus wasn’t sure what to say because James hit the nail right on the head. He knew him better than anyone on the planet, Lily was probably a close second to him. He could never get anything by either of them. “Yeah, well, I shouldn’t be so upset about it. It’s in the past.”

“After the shit you’ve been through, you can be down about this every so often. Even if it’s been months. It’s not like your every thought is tangled up in Sirius. But every so often, you are allowed to bum out about it.”

James was right again. “I know, but I hate that I’m still upset about it.”

“He let you down.”

Remus nodded.

“So, would you give him a chance then?”

“He let me down on my birthday.” Remus looked out the window into the pitch black. Every so often they’d pass a house with their lights on. “He gave me everything I wanted that day then it was all taken away.”

“So, you wouldn’t?”

“I don’t know. It’s too hard to answer because it’s not going to happen. His mother has him in her grips and his brother needs him too much. If he couldn’t stay with me then, then why would he come back? My importance does not rate there.”

James made a noise of agreement. “Well, promise me you’ll try to have a good holiday season. It was always your favorite. We’ll do fun things as a group. I’ll even watch those shitty movies.”

“I’ll try.” Remus agreed.

Dinner went as it always went. Everyone talked and laughed and complained about things. Snape and the other annoying townies were trying to fight Andi about building the inn up but things were not going in his favor. Most of the people in town knew the venue would be a good thing for revenue in the Hollow. The inn and venue looked like it was going to be complete and open by the summer. Remus wished that Sirius would be able to see it flourish because I was all his idea.

The Tonks were looking for chefs to come into work at the restaurant. Ted had some connections back in London, so they were trying to see who they could get to join them. Remus was interested to see who on earth would leave some well paying job at some fancy restaurant in London and come to the middle of nowhere New Hampshire. Then again, it worked well so far for the Blacks who made it out here.

Following dinner, Remus drove back to town with his mom. She was talking about some guy she had met at her publishing company the other week. Clearly she was concerned about getting Remus back into the dating game. Remus wanted nothing to do with it so he just nodded and made indications that he was listening even though he really wasn’t. Another relationship was not in the cards for Remus. If there was ever going to be another person to come into his life, it would be years from now. He wasn’t sure though if he could ever open himself up to anyone else again.

When he got back to his house, he went to work on the chest Sirius had given him last Christmas. He loved it but he only started working on it recently. Beforehand, he had a lot of other things going on. He also didn’t have much free time until a few months ago. Remus figured after he finished, he could resell it in the shop. He wasn’t sure if he could look at it much longer in his living room. Remus hoped that if he finished and sold it then it would be some sort of cathartic moment. It would be a signal that he was ready to move on.


	19. Chapter 19

It was Thanksgiving once again but this time Sirius was rushing to get to Godric’s Hollow instead of being warm and cozy with the Lupins all morning. Sirius assumed there would be much more traffic to navigate going up 93 North than there was. He hoped that was a good sign for things to come. Remus surprisingly hit nothing. It helped that the construction crews had the day off because they always seemed to be working whenever Sirius was on the road. Thankfully the snow was going to be holding out until after they arrived in Godric’s as well. Sirius hated driving in the snow, he had only done it a few times last year but even in the passenger seat, he was white knuckled. Remus seemed to be a master driver in the snow, he said it was his truck and his tires.

Driving through the mountains, Sirius felt like he was back home again. He only lived in New Hampshire for seven months but he felt like that was where his roots were. There was some type of pull that drew him to the Hollow, to all of those people. Once he got to Main Street, he felt like he could drive the rest of the way to Effie and Monty’s home blindfolded. Regulus was napping next to him with his mouth open, head leaning against the glass. His brother looked completely relaxed. He probably was, he was away from his mother for good and was free to be himself. Sirius wished he felt more at ease with that knowledge himself but he didn’t know how everyone was going to react.

It had taken a few weeks to settle the sale then only two days to get out of Singapore once it was finalized. The night before they left, Sirius and Regulus finally told their mother what they had done. Sirius had seen her angry many times before but that night was a whole new level. He was almost surprised that she didn’t kill them. Though, Sirius did end up with a black eye and a cut on his cheek from one last backhand from her. He couldn’t leave without a lovely parting gift from his mother. Sirius was never going to have to deal with it again. It was officially over. He was left with the knowledge that she was going to be miserable for the rest of her existence while he and his brother thrived on the other side of the world.

As he drove past Broomhill, he could see that the inn was looking better and there was another building behind it. He wondered what the garden looked like. Probably not so good because there was some snow on the ground and the leaves were all off of the trees now. Andi had sent them some pictures of it before it all went away and it was gorgeous. Sirius couldn’t wait to get a better view of it in the daylight the next day. He could picture weddings happening right between the flowers, under the newly renovated gazebo. Hopefully he would get to see the next summer. Maybe it would be Nym and Bill’s wedding.

Once he got closer, to the Potter’s home, Sirius was beginning to feel the anxiety seep him even more. The only real anxiety was what Remus was going to think or what he was going to do about Sirius being back. Remus needed to at least accept him being there in order for him to be welcomed back into the group. He was also a little worried about James getting angry with him because he cared a lot for Remus. Hope, Effie, and Marlene would probably back Sirius up because they were mostly level headed about everything. The others at the table could be wildcards. He didn’t want to make it a Remus v. Sirius debacle because that wasn’t what it was at all.

Sirius pulled into the Potter’s driveway then flicked Regulus in the ear. “Wake up, we’re here. You’re going to have a proper American Thanksgiving. I hope you’re hungry.”

“It’s only four in the afternoon.” Reg complained then yawned loudly.

“Exactly, they eat it early. It makes no sense. A lot of stuff here makes no sense.” Sirius laughed, turning the engine off.

“And yet you want to live here.” Regulus snorted a laugh.

“You’ll love it just like I love it. You’ll love this group of people too. Plus, Ted, Andi, and Nym are nowhere.”

“I barely know them.”

“You’ll get to know the Tonks very well because we’re living in the guest house at the inn for now.” Sirius informed him. He hadn’t talked to Andi about it but he knew that it would all right. It was just until Sirius bought a house or had one built somewhere close by. “Okay, come on, let’s go.”

Sirius led Reggie to the front door and he rang the bell. A few seconds later the door flung open. Effie was standing there grinning from ear to ear with arms wide open. “I knew you’d come back. I knew it! Thank goodness you’re okay, Sirius.” She wrapped Sirius in a hug and squeezed him tight. “And your brother too? Regulus, right? You can see the family resemblance. How handsome.” Effie pulled away and Reggie nodded. Before he could say anything, she gave him a hug too. “Both of you, come in. We’re just about to eat. I’m sure we can fit in two more seats. Come on. Everyone will be so happy to see you.”

Effie was talking but Sirius was barely paying attention because he couldn’t stop thinking about what might happen next. Reg was replying, thankfully, so he didn’t look like a complete arse. As they entered the dining room the laughter that he could hear as they were walking down the hall died immediately. James, Lily, Harry, Monty, Hope, Marlene, Dorcas, Billy, Nym, Andi, Ted, and Remus were all staring at them in shock.

“Ah! You’re here, you fucking idiot!” Marlene was the first to jump out of her seat then everyone else followed.

For the next few minutes there was a flurry of hugs. Sirius tried to explain what happened between being pulled into all of his friends’ and family’s embraces. Poor Reggie was very overwhelmed by it all because they were asking him nine million questions. Sirius was sure everything had become all muddled up.

“Who did you use? What firm took care of the sale?” Andromeda asked them.

“Dumbledore. Abe and Albus oversaw it themselves and I made sure that we weren’t going to be screwed.” Regulus informed Andi.

“Good, that’s good. They’re good and decent people if not bloody cunning. I’m glad you finally did this.” Andi laughed. “You’re staying in the guest house. The rooms are good to go now.”

Sirius looked to see that in between the hugs and kisses and hellos from his friends, Remus went missing. He worried at his bottom lip as everyone asked more questions but his mind was on Remus so he wasn’t exactly there. “He went out to get air.” James informed him like he read his mind.

“Oh.” Sirius nodded.

“Go out and get some air, Sirius.” Lily nudged him. “For the love of god, get some damn air.”

Sirius laughed but then did as he was told when Hope gave him a look that told him he better go out there to talk to her son.

On the front porch, Remus was leaning against the railing with his arms crossed. His hazel eyes were looking to the ground until Sirius closed the door behind him. “I hope I’m not bothering you. I wanted to come out but I wasn’t sure then I was basically accosted to get out here by James, Lily, and your mother.”

“No, I was hoping you’d come out here. I didn’t want to talk to you for the first time with everyone watching.” Remus rubbed his face then looked at Sirius with a frown. “What happened?” He jutted his chin out at Sirius. “Your eye.”

“My mother.”

Remus cringed, “Fuck, Sirius. I’m sorry.”

“It’s all over now, I swear. Reggie and I sold the company. There’s nothing she wants from us, especially when we informed her she was never getting either of us to marry a woman. There’s nothing that she can take from me. I have to hope she doesn’t get vindictive and hurt you all.” That was a fear Sirius had but he felt like he and Reggie took care of his mother for good.

Remus scoffed at the idea, tugging at his sweater’s sleeve a little bit. His winter beard was slowly growing back. He looked a bit like a professor with it and the sweater. If he had on Sirius’ glasses he’d really look like a proper academic. “It hurt, you know? It felt like I had my heart ripped out for the fourth time in my life and stomped on. I was so — I wanted to hate you so much.”

“I fucked up and I can understand if you never want to forgive me. I get it if you don’t want to see me ever again. I mean, I’m living here unless everyone actually hates me but I hope that’s not true. I’ll be helping Andi with the inn. I — er, I’d rather be in your life than not be in it. It doesn’t have to be more than a friendly acquaintance. I know that’s a lot to ask from you because of what happened but…”

“I know Sirius. I’m going to need some time but I think we should talk more later. When everyone isn’t dying to know what’s happening out here, that is.” Remus stood up straight. “Come over tonight, after dinner and we’ll talk at my place.”

“And ruin your annual Christmas movie watch?”

“I’m not saying it’ll take the whole night. Plus, I’m sure you’re jet-lagged.” Remus put his hands in his pockets. Sirius let out a long breath he felt like he had been holding. “Plus, this is more important than a Christmas movie and if we don’t talk then I won’t enjoy any time to myself anyhow.”

“Okay.” Sirius nodded.

“I’m not going to kick you out of here or make anyone hate you. Just to let you know. I want you to be happy and to have what you’ve fought to get. Enjoy dinner and we’ll have a better conversation tonight.” Remus said a little stiffly before going back inside. Sirius gave it a few seconds then followed after him.

When he went back into the dining room, they were adding two chairs to the table and Regulus was being asked a million questions by Effie and Hope. They were going to take him in like they took Sirius in last year. Sirius hoped he didn’t need to cry on their shoulders. It seemed like Sirius wasn’t going to need to cry (too much) because Remus was at least willing to talk. As the dinner went on, he found that the rest of his friends missed him too.

Sirius just wanted to make everything right. He wanted to date Remus but he’d live with a friendship even if it hurt. All that matter was he was back here now.

***

Remus looked across the table to Sirius, who was laughing at the fact that Marlene had almost set the backyard on fire with the last bonfire of the season. Remus felt something pull inside of him when Sirius walked into the room. He wanted to get out of his seat and kiss him, like some happy ending to one of the shitty holiday movies he couldn’t get enough of. But there was a lot more to unpack there. Remus wanted to talk to him but right there and then wasn’t the best. Not only were they friends and family waiting and probably speculating, Remus needed some time to deal with his emotions.

“Are you doing okay?” His mom asked him as they were helping Effie bring some dishes into the kitchen.

“Yeah, I’m okay, yeah.” Remus nodded. “I’m just a little thrown, is all.”

“Do you know what you’re going to do?” Effie asked softly. “If not, don’t rush. You have time, he’s not going anywhere now. You shouldn’t rush it anyway.”

Remus wanted to believe it but there was still some doubt knocking around in the back of his head. He was worried Sirius was going to fly off somewhere and not return. He wondered if they got together, would Remus be waiting for Sirius to leave him again? Could he trust him again? He wanted to so bad but it was going to take time.

As the meal wound down and it became time to leave, Remus knew everyone was going to make a big deal of Sirius and him leaving together. But he didn’t want to wait much longer. He just wanted to talk to the other man so he asked Sirius if he wanted to go when the Tonks were leaving with Regulus. Luckily, everyone kept their mouths shut but he knew he’d be hearing about it the next morning or in the following days.

They were both carrying armfuls of food with Snuffles trailing behind them as they walked out to the truck. “It smells like snow.” Sirius took a deep breath through his nose. “Feels like it too. I missed this.”

“Smells like snow?” Regulus furrowed his brow. “Feels like snow?”

“It does, you’ll get it when you’re here longer.” Remus answered Sirius’ younger brother. They looked so much alike that could have passed as twins.

“It’s magical. You’ll understand, wait till you see what it looks like tomorrow morning.” Sirius smiled at his brother. “I’ll see you all later.”

“Doubtful.” Nym muttered under her breath but everyone heard her.

Thankfully, no one else said anything except for their goodbyes. Remus got the food and Snuffles into his truck as Sirius took his old seat on the passenger side. “I missed this smell. Not the snow, but in the truck. That’s so weird to say now that I just said it out loud.” He shook his head.

“What smell in my truck?” Remus asked as he buckled up.

“Lemon, wood, and whatever leftover food you’re bringing home.”

Remus nodded, turning his radio up just enough to have a smoothing background to any possible tough conversation. He glanced over at Sirius as they started to drive away from the Potters and he looked happy but hesitant.

“You’re staying?”

“Yes, I’m staying. It was the longest fucking eight months of my life. I was so miserable and I did it all to myself.” Sirius answered quickly.

“Well, your mother and brother helped matters. I wouldn’t say you did it all by yourself.” Remus scoffed.

“Reg apologized and made this all happen. He was the one who had the idea to sell the company to get away. He orchestrated the wholesale. I was so angry with him then I got over it because I know why he was the way he was. It’s the same reason, I’m who I am.” Sirius said the last words as if he was about to cry. His voice cracked just slightly.

Remus’ heart sank. He reached over and lightly touched Sirius’ face. He hoped he wasn’t hitting the bruise or cut his mother gave him as a going away gift. Remus knew all of Sirius’ insecurities and anxieties. He knew why Sirius left. It didn’t make everything better for him but he understood. He also understood the strength that it took for Sirius to get back to New Hampshire.

“I’ve only ever felt safe and home here in this bloody little town. Only with you and I know how much I hurt you when I left. I spent eight months thinking about what I did to you. I thought about calling or texting you every single day but I wasn’t sure what to do because it didn’t feel like it would be enough. I thought it would end up in arguments.” Sirius took Remus’ hand that had been on his face, off the steering wheel again to hold it. “I came back.”

“I know you did but it doesn’t change the pain and how you broke my trust.” Remus wanted to just accept his apology but he knew that he would be lying to himself and Sirius. He didn’t want everything to bubble back up eventually. They had to deal with it and be adults before they could truly fall in love and be happy like they were.

“Then I’ll do whatever I need to do to regain it. What do you want? I’ll do it.” Sirius asked eagerly.

Remus laughed and shook his head. “I think it’s going to be more of a process than you doing one thing and me getting over this all.”

“I know.” Sirius squeezed his hand. “It feels right, with you, you know? I mean, I love New Hampshire but I don’t think I’d be half as happy here if I didn’t have you. That’s probably not healthy but you make me happier. I probably could have been mildly happy in Singapore with you. Not like in the closet but if we were out or whatever.”

“I understand.”

“I’d hate for you to spend the rest of our relationship thinking I’m going to leave you. So, whatever you need from me, tell me. Maybe we could go to counseling.”

“I might think that you’re going to leave for a while. I was just so hurt because it felt like history was repeating itself. For weeks — months I was devastated because this was one of the reasons why I didn’t date for three years. I was at the point where was thinking I was never going to be with someone again and I was somewhat okay with it then you came along but you broke my heart.”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Sirius repeated.

There was a long pause in conversation as the music played in the background. Remus let his hand be held by Sirius. It felt so comforting. When Heavy by Birdtalk came on Remus almost laughed. Heavy had come on last Thanksgiving, just before they got together, as they drove home. Whenever he heard the song after that, he thought of Sirius. It was very fitting for both of them because it was about growing and moving on from a dark time.

> _If you’re lost and lonely_   
>  _Go and figure out why_   
>  _Take a trip to your dark side_   
>  _Go on and have a good cry_   
>  _Cause we’re all lonely_   
>  _Yeah we’re all lonely_   
>  _Together_   
>    
>  _I want to see your sadness_   
>  _I want to share your sins_   
>  _I want to bleed your blood and_   
>  _I want to be let in_   
>  _Don’t you just,_   
>  _Don’t we all just_   
>  _Want to be together_

“What’s funny?” Sirius asked, rubbing his thumb on the back of his hand.

“It’s the song. I — it’s always made me think of you. The shuffle on this playlist has some great timing.”

“It’s nice.” Sirius hummed as Remus turned on to Holderness. “You can bring me to the inn if you want.”

“I didn’t realize we were done talking.”

“Oh, I just… I thought…”

“I want you around, Padfoot.” Remus said, using the nickname he so lovingly gave the other man for his clumsiness. Remus didn’t want Sirius to go anywhere. He wanted his company. He wanted to talk. “I want to talk to you more tonight. So, let’s talk more at my place. If you want, that is. I’m sure you’re exhausted.”

“I want that. I want to go to your house.” Sirius nodded. “Will I see Crookshanks?”

“Yes, she steals Snuffles dog bed all the time and his food.”

“Great, sorry Snuffles.” Sirius reached back and gave him a scratch.

A few minutes later they arrived at Remus’ house. He saw a soft smile on Sirius’ face as he parked the truck. Remus knew Sirius must have felt like he was home. Together they carried the food inside. Remus told Sirius to pick a movie and he’d start a fire after putting the food away. As Remus did that, he thought of how comfortable and easy it was to fall back into things with Sirius. Remus was still reeling because of what had happened but for many reasons, he didn't want Sirius to go anywhere. He needed him close by.

They watched Love, Actually. Well, sort of because they talked through most of the movie. Remus told Sirius about the various events and random things he had missed. Like when Snape was arrested for protesting the construction on Broomhill. Sirius liked that one best. Sirius told Remus about his boring life in Singapore and how empty it was. But he had grown close to Regulus recently in a way they didn’t have before because Sirius felt like he could open up to him. They talked about what they had to work on in their relationship. They agreed the best thing was for them to be open, take it slow, and maybe go find someone else to talk to.

“It’s snowing.” Sirius as the movie was winding down. He got up out of his seat and went to the window. “God, I missed snow. Even though I nearly froze my bits off last winter.”

Remus laughed, standing up to join him by the window. “I think you liked it because you got to be cozy.”

“Yes, it did give me plenty of opportunity to snuggle you and Snuffles and Crookshanks.” Sirius grinned at Remus as he came to stand next to him.

Stopping for a moment, Remus hesitated because he wanted to kiss Sirius. Instead of stopping completely, he leaned in and said, “I’m going to kiss you because I’ve missed you so much and I’ve been wanting to do this since you walked in the door.” Sirius nodded as Remus pulled him up against him. Sirius made a little surprised noise then melted into him.

There was going to be a lot of work to do on their relationship but Remus was okay with putting that work in. He had a hard time picturing his life without Sirius in it. He knew deep down the other man wouldn’t abandon him but that didn’t mean he couldn’t stop all the doubts. Sirius would do a good job of proving himself again, he was sure. Remus was going to have to talk to someone else about it too to help him through.

“Oh,” Sirius said when Remus pulled back. “I thought I was going to have to wait a little bit for that.”

Remus laughed, “Don’t think it’s going to be happening all the time.”

“Right, well, I’m glad you did that right then.” Sirius nodded, stepping back. “Let’s watch another movie.”

“Deal.”

Remus let Sirius take his hand and lead him back to the couch. They snuggled up under the blanket and watched a horribly cheesy movie on the Hallmark Channel. Sirius nodded off quickly but Remus stayed up thinking about what was ahead for them.

If Remus had learned anything in his life, it was that it was precious and fleeting for different reasons. Even though he was terrified of getting his heart broken again, he was more terrified of not doing what he wanted to do. So, he was going to let himself be loved and he was going to let himself love this man. They were going to put the work in and hopefully get something wonderful out of it.


	20. Epilogue

“Aww, look at the little booties, Remus. I can’t believe they make shoes to fit such little feet. Oh my god it’s the sweetest.” Sirius gushed over baby Teddy, Bill and Nym’s kid, who was now just a month old. “Ugh, I want one.”

Remus raised an eyebrow. That was the first time he had heard Sirius suggest something like that. They weren’t even engaged yet. Yet being the key word because Remus had plans for when they left Christmas dinner at the Potter’s. He had it in the works since the summer.

Over the last two years, Remus and Sirius had worked on their relationship. At the start it was rocky and difficult. They stayed mates for the most part, though there were a few times they had slept together sort of by accident. Not that it can be an accident but it just sort of happened. But outside of those handful of times, they didn’t become serious again until late into the spring. Remus was nervous about Sirius leaving again but they went to counseling and they dealt with things head on. Their relationship only got better and better as time went on.

On top of all that, the Black Estate Inn and Restaurant was open and thriving. Regulus, Sirius, and Andi were running things seamlessly. They had amazing reviews on every single site. They had been featured in numerous blogs and travel magazines. The inn was bringing people in from all over — people who may have never even visited the Hollow before. Snape and the other townies still found ways to complain but they didn’t matter because the success spoke for itself with everyone else. Remus was so proud of to see Sirius’ dreams realized.

Back in July Remus knew he was going to ask Sirius to marry him after Sirius had broken his foot while they were hiking. Yes, shocking, Sirius falling while doing something outdoorsy. The man made jokes all the way down the trail instead of complaining. He loved how Sirius could make everything okay, even when he was the one in pain. Remus wanted to make sure that he was the one to make Sirius okay always. He held off the engagement because he knew how much Sirius loved the holidays and winter. He knew the most perfect and meaningful way to propose. Well, he knew a few and decided on one in the end.

“Remus, let’s get one!” Sirius suggested happily.

“I didn’t realize they sold babies at stores now.” Remus said with a grin at Sirius, who was rocking the baby in his arms. It did melt his heart. He wanted a kid too. They just never really talked about it before.

“Fuck off.”

“Little ears.” Remus said in a stage whisper.

“He’s adorable. I just want one now.”

“Say that at 2 am when he’s screaming for you to feed him.” Nym scoffed.

“I would still say it.” Sirius kissed the little one’s forehead.

Eventually Sirius gave the baby back it was Secret Santa time. Remus had got Charlie (who was dating Regulus!!!!!!). That was a development in the group because Charlie had never dated before. Everyone was pleasantly surprised that it was Reggie to come along and steal his heart. One morning, less than a year ago, they had shown up to breakfast together holding hands. Everyone that was there freaked out but Regulus and Charlie blew them off and told them to relax about it, so everyone did. Anyway. Remus got Charlie some of his favorite whiskey. Remus actually had no idea who got him his gift. He was able to suss it out most years but not this one.

He was given a big box and opened it to find another smaller wrapped box. Remus huffed and someone chuckled across the room. Probably the culprit. Frank, James, Peter, possibly Marlene were all on his lists. They would do this. He opened the box to find another one. He knew this was going to continue as he opened the fourth wrapped box. Each box got progressively smaller. It was probably going to be like a five dollar bill or something.

“I hate whoever did this.” Remus glared at everyone in the living room from where he was sitting on the end of the sofa. Everyone else had finishing unwrapping their gifts and were looking on in interest at Remus. “It better be a nice gift.”

No one said a thing but there were plenty of chuckles.

Ten boxes later, Remus arrived at the last one. Or what he hoped was the last one because it could fit in his palm. He tore away the paper find a velvet ring box. “Oh, oh no.” He knew immediately the Sirius had beat him to the punch.

“Oh no?” Remus could practically hear the frown in the other man’s voice.

Remus looked up from staring at the box in his hand to find Sirius on one knee in front of him. “Not what I wanted to hear.” Sirius took the box out of his hand and opened it to reveal a platinum band with some intricate detail on it.

“No! No!” Remus stood up and shook his head.

“Again, Remus, you’re saying all the words I didn’t want to hear. I also didn’t think—”

“No! That’s not what I’m saying. Wait, it’s not — just — why didn’t anyone say we were…” Remus went off to find his coat, where the ring was in his pocket. As he went off he heard everyone laughing and Sirius was questioning what the hell was going on. He couldn’t believe they both choose the same night to do it. He also couldn’t believe he decided to play a prank on him in the process of asking him to marry him. He did like it though.

Sirius was standing in the middle of the living room with his arms folded. Everyone was looking on in interest. Remus held out the ring box. “What? You were going to ask me?”

“Yeah but, I was going to take you ice skating like we did with the snowmobile and—”

“Oh! That’s way more romantic! I should have done that. Shite. Forget this.” Sirius waved a hand.

“Well, the answer is obviously yes, by the way.” He grabbed Sirius’ hand and pulled him close.

“Obviously the same for me.” He said, sliding the ring on Remus’ finger.

The Potters, Lupins, Tonks, Regulus, Bill, and Charlie all clapped. “You’re going to have to get that baby soon then, huh?” Nym questioned as Remus slid the ring he bought Sirius on to his finger with a grin.

“Babies! We should adopt like 20 of them.” Sirius said with wide eyes.

“How about like three max?” Remus shook his head. “Anyway, at least half of you knew I was proposing. I’m sure Sirius told some of you but no one said anything?”

Lily chuckled, “We thought it was cute and wanted to see what happened.”

“We weren’t disappointed.” His mom said.

“Wait, you told my mom?” Remus asked

“I asked her for your hand in marriage.” Sirius said gallantly. “She said if I didn’t marry you, she’d really put a curse on Broomhill, not that fake shite you use to go on about.”

“I never went on about that, that’s all Prongs.” Remus defended himself. “But that’s sort of adorable you asked.”

Remus knew that his mom treated Sirius like her son already and they weren’t even married. It didn’t surprise him much that Sirius had told her. Effie probably knew too. Sirius went from one horrible mother to two wonderful ones. Remus thought he deserved it.

Congratulations went around and they all had a glass of champagne to celebrate.

Afterward, they said their goodbyes before heading out to Remus’ truck. Remus drove them home. They were living at Remus’. Sirius had moved in with him last November. “Do you want to go do the ice skating?”

“No, I want you to take me home and take me to bed. Let’s go tomorrow.” Sirius took his hand and brought it up to kiss the back of it. “I love you, Moony.”

“I love you too, Pads. I love you so much. I can’t wait to marry you.”

Sirius smiled softly, “I want to take your last name when we do get married.”

“You do? Really? I always thought we’d hyphenate.”

“I want to get rid of the last name. It dies with my mother. I know Reg doesn’t want kids and who knows what he’ll do with the last name if he and Charlie do get married, but’s not getting carried on.”

“If that’s what you want, that’s fine with me.” Remus stopped at the stop sign and leaned over to give Sirius a kiss on the cheek.

Remus wanted to thank every type of diety for bringing Sirius Black to Godric’s Hollow. Really, he probably should go and put some flowers on Al’s grave.

**Author's Note:**

> Want to know what the houses look like in this fic?  
> Want to know what the houses of these character's look like? Check out this post: https://marlenemckinn.tumblr.com/post/179839476668/if-you-are-reading-with-a-star-in-one-eye-these
> 
> Want to no what Remus looks like in my brain for this fic?  
> https://marlenemckinn.tumblr.com/post/180185005613/fyi-jvns-boyfriend-is-my-inspo-for-with-a-star-in
> 
> Want to see the song per chapter playlist?  
> https://marlenemckinn.tumblr.com/post/180211389283/playlist-for-with-a-star-in-one-eye-a-lyric-per


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